Report
According to the European Commission, the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum rests on solidarity, responsibility-sharing, and respect for fundamental rights. To achieve these, it introduced a solidarity mechanism to address the unequal distribution of responsibility for asylum
seekers across the EU.
In 2024, the EU+ received around a million asylum applications, with four countries - Germany, Spain, Italy, and France - receiving almost half (48%) of them.
In this joint analysis and recommendations, 17 civil society organisations - including the International Rescue Committee - warn that without strong enforcement and political will, solidarity risks remaining a symbolic gesture rather than a functional tool for alleviating pressure on first-entry states and ensuring fair responsibility sharing across Member States.
We jointly state that by committing to bold, realistic, enforceable relocation targets, streamlining processes, and investing in rights-based reception and asylum structures, the EU can build a more resilient, durable, and fair asylum system that is based on genuine solidarity, both with other Member States and with asylum seekers, strengthening the collective capacity to respond to migration sustainably.
The analysis is co-signed by:
- International Rescue Committee
- ARSIS Association for the Social Support of Youth
- Association for Integration and Migration
- Caritas Europa
- Centre for Peace Studies (Croatia)
- ECPAT Deutschland e.V.
- Fenix-Humanitarian Legal Aid
- Foundation for Access to Rights (FAR)
- Greek Council for Refugees (GCR)
- JRS Romania
- Network for Children's Rights (Greece)
- Reachout Foundation
- Refugee Legal Support (RLS)
- Samos Volunteers
- Symbiosis-Council of Europe School of Political Studies in Greece
- Terre des hommes - helping children worldwide
- Terre des Hommes Germany
