Brussels, 08/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 8 September, the European Commission once again identified sharp disparities between member states with regard to procedural guarantees when granting and withdrawing refugee status. Cecilia Malmström, the commissioner for internal affairs declared that “national asylum procedures are still sharply diverging and the rules in force do not allow for certain administrative errors to be predicted. I urge the Parliament and Council to adopt the modifications proposed in 2009 by the Commission for rectifying this situation”. A Commission report on the application of the directive on minimum standards for procedures involving the granting and withdrawing of refugee status indicates that procedural guarantees still vary considerably from one member state to the next. Optional provisions and exemption clauses in the directive have contributed to a plethora of different practices. This is particularly the case with regard to the provisions on accelerated procedures and “safe countries of origin”, “safe third countries”, individual interviews, legal assistance and access to effective appeals. On 21 October 2009, the Commission therefore adopted a draft proposal for recasting the directive, in an effort to provide a solution to this problem. Moreover, a number of incomplete and/or incorrect transpositions and inappropriate applications of the directive were also identified. Procedures can, in effect, produce administrative errors: a significant proportion of these decisions were revised in appeal because they were based on insufficiently clear and unambiguous criteria. So far, all member states have notified complete transposition measures, apart from Ireland. The Commission has decided to take Ireland and Belgium to the European Court of Justice for the non-communication of complete transposition measures (the Belgian transposition measures are currently being examined) and an infringement procedure has begun against Greece for the correct application of several provisions in the directive. The quality and effectiveness of asylum procedure will constitute the main themes of a ministerial conference organised in Brussels on 13-14 September. (B.C./transl.fl)