EU member states reached a political agreement on five of the legislative sections of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

There are multiple other sections yet to be agreed upon. Talks will now proceed in order to draw up and approve the actual legal texts, which will have to be passed by both the European Council and the European Parliament before the end of the legislature.

Screening procedure and second phase

The screening procedure provides for migrants that have arrived at an EU border or through search-and-rescue operations at sea to complete identification procedures within seven days at specific centers at which they will also undergo health and security checks.

Biometric facial and fingerprint data will be collected in the EU's Eurodac databank for all migrants age 6 and over.

Those arriving via search-and-rescue operations will be registered separately for statistical purposes. The European Parliament has requested a strong, independent monitoring mechanism in every member state to protect the basic rights of those subjected to screening procedures.

The second phase involves filtering. Migrants coming from countries with a low percentage of asylum requests accepted (20%) will undergo a new fast-track procedure -- so that they will all have at least the chance to apply for international protection -- and will be housed in special reception centers without any official access to EU territory.

These requests will need to be granted or denied within three months, while those whose applications are rejected will have to be repatriated within the following three months.

Excluded from the procedure will be families with children and unaccompanied minors unless they pose a security risk.

Capacity at the moment has been set at 30,000 places per year, but the facilities will be able to deal with up to 120,000 people.

Other key aspects introduced

The Regulation on Asylum Migration Management (RAMM) introduces the concept of 'mandatory solidarity' and intersects with special measures for crisis situations due to such things as massive influxes, force majeure or instrumentalisation by external players.

The pact introduces a standard quota of 30,000 relocations per year.

However, member states have other options if they do not want to relocate migrants within their territory, including through a payment of 20,000 euros per migrant.

In the case of crises, temporary exceptions may be made for the standard asylum procedures and the European Commission can intervene to ensure that the countries in question are supported in other ways.