The State of the European Union. The European Parliament faces its most important elections yet

GLOBAL AGREEMENTS ON MIGRATION AND REFUGEES: CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS 99 ‘Granting asylum is one of the most ancient and shared gestures of solidarity in the history of hu- mankind. It has helped save lives, build and re- build nations, and preserve our sense of humanity’. 8 One hundred and eighty-one Member States voted in favour of the UN’s adoption of the pact, which, like the Global Pact on Migration, is non-binding. The United States and Hungary voted against the measure and the Dominican Republic, Eritrea and Libya abstained. The pact is intended to offer a predictable, shared and equitable response to forced dis- placements by means of the application of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). A Global Refugee Forum to handle fol- low-up and review will be convened every four years. The four most fundamental objectives of this pact are to: – Ease pressures on host countries. – Enhance refugee self-reliance. – Expand access to third-country solutions. – Support conditions in countries of origin for return in safety and dignity. Funding for implementation is expected to come primarily from donors, governments and private sector entities in line with the pact’s vi- sion of shared responsibility and its ambition to provide long-term development assistance rath- er than short-term humanitarian assistance. This focus on engaging as many actors as possible is one of its principle added values and encourag- ing aspects of the initiative, which has placed a strong emphasis on opening up new opportuni- ties for resettlement, family reunification and the concession of humanitarian visas. 8   https://www.unhcr.org/admin/hcspeeches/5bb1d07f4/ opening-statement-69th-session-executive-committee- high-commissioners-programme.html Regarding the first of these three issues, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal to create a resettlement framework in 2016 that entered the negotiation stage in ear- ly 2018. Participation in EU resettlement schemes continues to be a voluntary action on the part of Member States. The initial idea was to estab- lish a permanent mechanism based on quotas, human corridor schemes and channels for fam- ily reunification. This formulation was however criticised as being discriminatory for giving pref- erence to family members over especially vul- nerable persons more in need of protection. The text finally agreed upon in the European Parliament, which embraced both the concept of an EU humanitarian visa and voluntary reset- tlement, has sparked considerable debate over the voluntary nature of EU resettlement schemes and the discretion Member States are allowed to exercise in the selection process, which in- cludes the application of criteria such as cultural characteristics and affinities that could facilitate integration. Concerning humanitarian visas, it is impor- tant to note that to date such documents have been issued by some – but not all – Member States on a discretionary basis. Such visas afford asylum seekers a secure means of leaving third countries and entering the Schengen zone, where they can formally present applications for international protection. The concession of humanitarian visas is cur- rently contingent upon the willingness of a gov- ernment to make this gesture, the criteria used by its embassies and consulates in decisions to admit or reject requests and relevant national law, which varies from state to state. Certain EU countries such as Germany, Belgium, France and Denmark have legislation in place that contem- plates the concession of visas of this nature.