European Union (EU) ministers on Tuesday finally approved the New Pact on Migration and Asyluman after years of negotiations.

According to AFP, Hungary and Poland voted against all the legislation, although it was approved by a qualified majority (55 percent of member states representing at least 65 percent of the EU population), while Austria and Slovakia voted against some of the laws.

The reform plan consists of 10 pieces of legislation, supported by a large majority of EU countries. As the massive legislative package passes legal procedures, some countries are seeking further efforts to tighten the bloc’s policies and send more arrivals to third countries to process their applications.

The migration and asylum legislation is the result of years of arduous negotiations that began with the massive influx of irregular migrants from Syria and Afghanistan into Europe in 2015.

Source: Jordan News Agency