Luxembourg, 9 June 2023 (dpa/MIA) - European Union interior ministers have backed plans to tighten the bloc's asylum policies at a meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday, in the face of rising migration figures.

EU ministers "have taken a historic step after many years of negotiations," Swedish Interior Minister Maria Stenergard, chair of the talks, said in a press conference.

The plans are "a good balance between responsibility and solidarity," she added.

Following hours of negotiations, a majority of the bloc's interior ministers agreed to the proposed reforms despite criticism from Austria, the Netherlands and Italy that the plans do not go far enough.

EU ministers were examining draft plans to detain asylum seekers in reception facilities at the bloc's external borders while processing applications, as more and more people are trying to reach the EU.

If the applicant has no chance of obtaining asylum in the EU, he or she would be sent back immediately. Asylum applications are to be assessed within a maximum of six months, Stenergard said.

Also debated was the establishment of a mandatory system to distribute an agreed amount of asylum seekers among EU member states.

EU countries unwilling or unable to accept relocated migrants would give help in the form of financial support amounting to €20,000 ($21,500) per person, Stenergard said.

Unanimity is not required in the bloc's migration policy decisions. Instead a qualified majority of at least 15 of the 27 EU countries, making up at least 65% of the total EU population, is needed.

Stenergard was optimistic before the meeting that an agreement could be struck after years of back-and-forth, urging her EU counterparts to "walk the last mile" and agree on the draft reforms.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner had warned however that he expected intense negotiations as the last metres of a journey "are often the hardest and most difficult."

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described the agreement as "a historic success - for the European Union, for a new migration policy based on solidarity and for the protection of human rights," in a post on Twitter on Thursday evening.

It was uncertain before the meeting if an agreement was possible despite building momentum. Debated for years, asylum policy reform is a sensitive political issue for multiple EU member states.

Negotiations with the European Parliament can now begin. However, completing the process before forthcoming elections to the EU legislature in 2024 will be challenging.

Faeser had pushed for unaccompanied minors and families with minors to be exempted from the new rules however in the interest of an agreement relented on this demand. She said she was counting on the European Parliament to secure the exemptions.

Aid organization Oxfam criticized the draft reforms. Border facility plans "will lock away refugees including children at a huge cost," Stephanie Pope, an Oxfam EU migration expert, said in a statement.

In 2022, 881,200 first-time applications for asylum were made in the EU, an increase of 64% compared to 2021, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

Italy is one border member of the bloc receiving a high number of arrivals. More than 50,000 people arrived on boats via the Mediterranean in 2023, the UN refugee agency reported.

Photo: MIA archive