The migrant pact agreed by the European Parliament this week will only enable “forced mass migration” to take place in the bloc, an MEP has claimed.
Tom Vandendriessche, an MEP for the Flemish Vlaams Belang party, has heavily criticised the new migrant pact agreed upon by the European Parliament, saying that the measures will simply enable “forced mass migration” to occur within the continent.
Legacy media outlets have attempted to portray the measures as the EU tightening its approach towards illegal immigration, with the EU parliament being described as having a “gradual rightward shift” on the issue over the last year.
However, according to an EU press release on the proposed measures, EU states will actually be forced to take more migrants under certain scenarios, as well as accelerate the ability for migrants with temporary protection status to gain the status of a long-term resident.
The idea that such proposed reforms represent a tightening of EU immigration rules has outraged a significant number within the parliament, with Vandendriessche warning that Thursday’s resolution will simply make mass migration in many parts of Europe even worse.
“Could it be possible that this pact is not a tightening [of border controls] at all, as citizens are told through the traditional media?” he asked in a statement given to Breitbart Europe.
Vandendriessche went on to describe the measures as effectively making illegal immigration permissible within the union, while also taking away border controls from individual member states and making it easier for migrants to bring family members into Europe.
“What is stricter about that?” he questioned, before going on to describe the agreement as “the 2018 Marrakesh pact in a new guise”.
EU Accused of ‘Tackling’ Illegal Migration by Simply Making it Legal https://t.co/LKHp0kVnHG
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 31, 2023
Such a comparison from Vandendriessche is not new, with the Flemish MEP joining a number of other politicians late last month to warn that the planned EU reforms would likely make immigration into Europe worse.
AfD parliamentarian Nicolaus Fest warned that the measures being pushed by the European Parliament would “import millions of migrants” against the wishes of the vast majority of people on the continent.
“This is both a disregard for democracy and an egregious betrayal of ordinary citizens,” he told Breitbart.
Populist politicians also expressed serious concern regarding the parliamentary proceedings that saw the measures go to a vote on Thursday, with some arguing that the March votes lacked procedural integrity.
“Some voting lists were not circulated until late in the evening the day before the vote, some even a few hours before it,” Fest explained. “The session was correspondingly chaotic, with MEPs barely able to determine what they were voting on.”
Nevertheless, the reforms were pushed through the body despite the fact that some politicians were allegedly unclear about their votes, with this week’s final affirmation meaning that the migration pact will now be negotiated by the European Council, a body made up of representatives from each sitting government in every EU member state.
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— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 24, 2023