The study's overarching question is whether the EU will be better prepared for future crises after the adoption of the New Pact reforms. It highlights that the EU is potentially better off with a common framework, also considering the likelihood of volatile migration flows in the future. Nevertheless, this study points to the ambiguities and grey areas in the Regulation, underlining that the flexibility for facilitating EU responses could come at the cost of legal certainty. At the same time, the benefit of using the derogations remains unclear, while solutions to address the root causes of an emergency may lie outside the New Pact instruments or even migration policy.