MEPs approve plans for long-awaited overhaul to EU asylum system

European lawmakers say that after seven years of deadlock it could be the final chance to resolve the issue

The European parliament has approved a series of proposals to overhaul the EU asylum system in a bid to end years-long deadlock over the issue.

Voting in Strasbourg, MEPs approved plans on the distribution of refugees and migrants across the bloc, screening of people at the EU’s external borders and giving non-EU nationals long-term residence permits after three years of legal stay in a member state.