Ministers from the member states of the European Union will meet in Brussels on Tuesday to finalize a massive overhaul of the bloc's migration and asylum laws.
The new body of law is the product of years of fierce debate, which came to a head in a tense European Parliament vote on April 11. Protesters disrupted the vote, throwing paper aeroplanes across the chamber and chanting "this pact kills, vote no!"
The new law requires all 27 EU member states to take some responsibility for managing asylum applications, but also makes the rules stricter for applicants.
It has therefore been attacked both by those who want to reduce immigration and by campaigners who want to make it easier for people to come to the EU.
For the latter group, the most contentious part of the package involves establishing border facilities in the EU to host asylum seekers, and to screen and quickly send back applicants found to be ineligible. Applicants will spend up to 12 weeks in reception centres waiting for a decision.
Applicants who come from a country with an asylum recognition rate in the EU of less than 20%, as well countries decided to be a public security risk, will be subject to such border checks.
According to the legislation, arrivals to the bloc will also be registered with fingerprints and photos to screen for threats to public security.
On the other hand, if an EU country does not want to accept people applying for asylum, then that member state must give alternative assistance like financial contributions to a support fund.
Furthermore, EU member states experiencing significant spikes in applications for asylum may call for the applicants to be distributed to other EU countries.
The relocation mechanism has drawn opposition from leaders trying to reduce migration their countries, such as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who are seldom found on the same side of major EU political debates.
The legislation is due to be adopted in a meeting of finance ministers. EU rules allow any formation of national ministers to give final approval to a law on any subject, once it has been through all the other steps.
The finance ministers also hope to reach agreements on faster relief of excess witholding taxes, on Value-Added Tax (VAT) for digital sales, and on revisions to spending plans under the EU's post-Covid recovery fund.
Also to be discussed are the war in Ukraine and Europe's ageing population, among other matters.