EU Reaches Major Migration Agreement

EU Reaches Major Migration Agreement

欧盟达成重大移民协议

【听力音频】

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

　　By Bryan Lynn

　　21 December 2023

　　The European Union has reached an agreement that sets new rules for controlling migration.

　　The deal, announced Wednesday, will become part of an EU agreement called the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Associated Press reported the document will need to get final EU approval by February and is expected to enter into force by June.

　　The main purpose of the agreement is to set new rules to ease difficulties facing EU nations as they seek to deal with migrant arrivals. The deal also aims to establish a process for EU nations to more fairly share the duties and costs related to migration.

　　The laws cover screening policies for when migrants first arrive in the EU. They also provide rules relating to migrants seeking asylum and set guidelines for processing applications and dealing with possible migration crises.

　　"It's truly a historic day," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told reporters in Brussels after the negotiations. She added that reaching an agreement was important because migration is likely to be a major campaign issue ahead of EU elections in June.

　　"Let's not underestimate the risk if we had not reached such a deal," Metsola said. She added that she hopes the agreement will persuade EU members not to establish individual borders because the migration flows can now be more effectively dealt with.

　　Migrant arrivals in the EU are down from a high in 2015 of more than 1 million. Most of those migrants entering Europe were fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. But the flows started to increase in recent years and reached 255,000 so far this year through November, Reuters news agency reported. More than half of these crossed the Mediterranean from Africa, mainly to Italy.

　　Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi called the deal a "great success" for Europe and Italy. He said it should help EU border countries most involved with migration feel less alone.

　　German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said finding agreement on migration disputes was very important and can help lighten the load for the most affected EU states, including Germany.

　　Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he sees the deal improving "control over migration" and providing a better asylum process for migrants to the EU. Far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders aims to replace Rutte after winning the country's elections last month on a campaign that included anti-migration policies.

　　Under the new system, countries not at the EU border will have to choose between accepting their share of 30,000 asylum applicants or paying nearly 22,000 euros per person to the EU.

　　The screening system seeks to separate those in need of international protection from others who are not.

　　People whose asylum applications have a low chance of approval – such as those from India, Tunisia or Turkey – can be prevented from entering the EU and detained at the border. People seen as representing a threat to security can also be held at the border. The agreement also sets policies for speeding up the processing of applications.

　　While praised by many European leaders, the agreement also received criticism from groups seeking to assist migrants.

　　The European Council on Refugees and Exiles – a migrant rights organization – condemned the proposed rules on X, formerly Twitter. The group said the policies were "Byzantine in their complexity and Orban-esque in their cruelty." The message was commenting on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who ordered the building of security fences to keep migrants out of the country.

　　Rights group Amnesty International said it sees the deal setting EU asylum law back many years and leading to greater suffering for people seeking asylum. It also said the agreement is likely to cause more people "to be put into de facto detention" at the EU's borders, including families with children and other "vulnerable" individuals.

　　I'm Bryan Lynn.

　　The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

　　作者：Bryan Lynn

　　日期：2023年12月21日

　　欧洲联盟已经达成一项协议，为控制移民设定了新的规则。

　　这项在周三宣布的协议，将成为欧盟一项名为《新移民和庇护协定》的部分。据美联社报道，该文件需要在2月份获得欧盟的最终批准，并预计将在6月份生效。

　　这项协议的主要目的是为了设定新的规则，以缓解欧盟国家在处理移民到达时面临的困难。该协议还旨在建立一个过程，使欧盟各国能更公平地分担与移民相关的责任和成本。

　　这些法律涵盖了移民首次抵达欧盟时的筛查政策。它们还提供了与寻求庇护的移民相关的规则，并设定了处理申请和应对可能的移民危机的指导方针。

　　"这真是一个历史性的日子，"欧洲议会主席Roberta Metsola在谈判结束后在布鲁塞尔对记者说。她补充说，达成协议很重要，因为移民问题可能会成为6月欧盟选举的主要竞选议题。

　　"我们不要低估如果我们没有达成这样的协议会有什么风险，"Metsola说。她还表示，她希望这个协议能说服欧盟成员国不要设立单独的边界，因为现在可以更有效地处理移民流动。

　　欧盟接收的移民人数从2015年的高峰期的100多万人下降。大多数进入欧洲的移民是在逃避叙利亚和伊拉克的战争。但是，近年来流动人口开始增加，据路透社报道，今年截至11月，已经达到255,000人。其中超过一半的人从非洲穿越地中海，主要是去意大利。

　　意大利内政部长马特奥·皮安特多西称这项协议是欧洲和意大利的"巨大成功"。他说，这应该能帮助与移民问题最为相关的欧盟边境国家感到不那么孤单。

　　德国总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨表示，就移民争议达成协议非常重要，可以帮助减轻包括德国在内的最受影响的欧盟国家的负担。

　　即将离任的荷兰首相马克·吕特表示，他看到这项协议改善了"对移民的控制"，并为移民提供了更好的欧盟庇护程序。极右翼议员吉尔特·维尔德斯在上个月的国家选举中赢得了胜利，他的竞选活动包括反移民政策，他的目标是接替吕特。

　　在新的系统下，不在欧盟边境的国家将不得不选择接收他们份额的30,000名庇护申请者，或者每人向欧盟支付近22,000欧元。

　　筛查系统旨在将需要国际保护的人与其他人分开。

　　那些庇护申请有很低通过率的人——比如来自印度、突尼斯或土耳其的人——可以被阻止进入欧盟，并在边境被拘留。被视为对安全构成威胁的人也可以在边境被拘留。该协议还设定了加快处理申请的政策。

　　尽管许多欧洲领导人对此协议表示赞赏，但也有寻求帮助移民的团体对此表示批评。

　　欧洲难民和流亡者委员会——一个移民权利组织——在X上（原为Twitter）谴责了提议的规则。该组织表示，这些政策"在复杂性上堪比拜占庭，在残酷性上堪比奥尔班。"这条信息是在评论匈牙利总理维克托·奥尔班，他下令建立安全围栏以阻止移民进入该国。

　　人权组织国际特赦组织表示，它认为这项协议将欧盟的庇护法律倒退了许多年，导致寻求庇护的人们遭受更大的痛苦。它还表示，该协议可能导致更多的人"实际上被拘留"在欧盟的边境，包括有孩子的家庭和其他"脆弱"的个人。

　　我是Bryan Lynn。

　　美联社和路透社报道了这个故事。Bryan Lynn为VOA学习英语改编了这些报道。

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

　　这个故事中的词汇：

　　screen – v. 筛查，为了决定某人是否适合特定的目的而查找关于他们的信息

　　application – n. 申请，通常是对某事的官方且书面的请求

　　de facto – adj. 实际存在的，尽管可能未被意图或官方接受

　　vulnerable – adj. 易受伤害或攻击的，无论是身体上还是情感上