BRUSSELS: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that proposed new migration reforms would replace the "Dublin Regulation", which governs which member state handles a new arrival's asylum claim.

"I can announce that we will abolish the Dublin Regulation and we will replace it with a new European migration governance system," she told MEPs during a debate after her annual state of the European Union address.

"It will have common structures on asylum and return and it will have a new strong solidarity mechanism," she said. Her plan will still have to be approved by EU member states, who are deeply divided on the topic.

The Dublin regulation was established in 1990 and has been reformed twice, most recently in 2013.

Under the rules, intended to prevent migrants from lodging multiple asylum requests in Europe, a member state that receives an asylum request must process it and the would-be refugee should not move on.

The Commission is due to present its long-awaited and repeatedly postponed reform of European migration policy on September 23, and members have once more been debating the issue after a fire devastated a huge migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.