The European Parliament approved a report co-au-thored by MEP Roberta Metsola saying a centralised asylum system would allow the EU to better manage flows of migrants and asylum seekers.

The resolution, drafted by Dr Metsola and MEP Kashetu Kyenge, was approved yesterday by 459 votes to 206, with 52 abstentions.

“There is no quick fix for migration, no magic silver bullet. We do not need more emergency solutions, we need a sustainable approach for the future,” Dr Metsola said during the plenary debate.

There is no quick fix, no magic silver bullet

By approving the non-binding resolution, the MEPs acknowledged the failure of the EU asylum system to cope with the constant flow of arrivals. They also called for a radical overhaul of the Dublin rules, which the European Commission is considering revising. They proposed establishing a central system for collecting and allocating asylum applications.

The scheme, which could include a quota for each state, would work on the basis of hotspots from which refugees would be distributed.

The MEPs demanded changes that would ensure fairness and shared responsibility, solidarity and swift application processing. They also argued the current asylum system did not take into consideration the pressures faced by those states that have EU external borders.

The report also calls on member states to fulfil their relocation obligations, stressing that as yet, only a fraction of the 106,000 asylum seekers awaiting reassignment from Italy and Greece to other EU countries had been relocated.

MEP Miriam Dalli, who is leading negotiations on behalf of the Socialists and Democrats, argued that the EU system for the return of illegal-staying third-country nationals was not effective.

In 2014, she said, less than 40 per cent of return decisions were actually implemented and migrants ended up in a legal conundrum.

“Effective but dignified returns are the only way forward to elevate some pressure from countries like Malta, and for achieving a European Common Asylum Policy. It is only through such means that we can really fulfil our humanitarian obligations,” Dr Dalli said.