Despite a nerve-wreaking buildup leading up to the vote on Wednesday (10 April) afternoon, and the final agreement to no one’s liking, the EU’s asylum and migration pact ultimately passed with a thin majority on certain parts of the package.

Now, we must make sure that what has been agreed to is fully implemented in all our Member States, and that implementation goes hand in hand with the respect for our shared humanity,” Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola said after the vote.

It is not a perfect solution, it is a compromise that we in the European Parliament are accepting with a heavy lump in our throats, but was absolutely necessary,” said one of the leading negotiators, Slovakian Socialist MEP Matjaz Nemec.