EU close to migration policy consensus

European Union member nations have moved closer to a consensus on a complete overhaul of the bloc's migration policy, with reform that will establish universal rules across all states, radically transforming existing migration and asylum procedures.

Ongoing negotiations in the European Parliament are believed to be advanced after rounds of talks, and the bloc hopes to make proposed changes into law before next year's EU elections, reported Euronews.

The reform, known as the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, is a complex package of five linked laws that would replace the uncoordinated and unilateral measures used by some countries with a comprehensive legal system to manage asylum seekers.

An agreement would seek to relieve pressure on so-called frontline countries, including Italy and Greece, by relocating some arrivals to other EU states, while nations opposed to hosting asylum seekers would be required to pay those that do, reported AFP.

Some 250,000 people have arrived in the EU so far this year without using regular border crossings, according to official sources.

The EU's chief executive said on Friday she was confident ongoing negotiations would produce a deal.

"We can speak a lot about it, but it's on its way now," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "Migration was always there, it will always be there. The question is how we manage it as team Europe... We cannot accept what human traffickers do and we cannot let them decide who has access to the EU."

Von der Leyen has repeatedly said "migration is a European challenge that requires a European response".

Representatives from the EU's 27 member countries reached a deal last month covering the "crisis regulation "element of the pact, overcoming a dispute between Germany and Italy that focused on charities that rescue refugees from drowning at sea.

At the end of a summit of leaders from across Europe in Spain last week, Poland and Hungary blocked a symbolic concluding statement about migration, but other leaders said they would continue to overhaul the bloc's rules for handling irregular arrivals.

"Poland does not agree to have someone else furnishing our home," said Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Hungary's Prime Minister Victor Orban accused the EU of imposing a new migration pact.

France's President Emmanuel Macron said that although Poland and Hungary's opposition had obstructed mention of migration in the final declaration, it would have no effect on the proposed bill, which had already been approved in general terms by member states on Wednesday.

"Election after election, migration tops our citizens' concerns," said European Parliament head Roberta Metsola, who was at the summit in Spain. "There is no silver bullet, but let's not kill this pact before we adopt it."