Sunday 15 August 2021: The crisis in Afghanistan and the actions of Belarus demonstrate the need for a fast overhaul of the European Union’s migration and asylum rules, EU Commissioner Margaritis Schinas said today.

“If there is one thing that the situation in Afghanistan and the actions of Belarus have shown, it is that the clock has run out on how long we can wait to adopt the complete overhaul of Europe’s migration and asylum rules we need,” Schinas said in a tweet, citing his comments in Italian paper La Stampa.

Many EU member states are nervous that developments in Afghanistan could trigger a replay of Europe’s 2015/16 migration crisis when the chaotic arrival of more than a million people from the Middle East stretched security and welfare systems and fuelled support for far-right groups.