Brussels, 11/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 10 January, Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, France) presented her draft report on review of the directive on asylum procedures to the committee on justice, civil liberties and home affairs (LIBE). It was proposed by the Commission in 2009 in the context of the “asylum package”, and aims to set in place a true European common asylum system by 2012.
In her report, the Socialist places emphasis on the major and unfair disparities that exist among national asylum systems. In particular, she wants to improve the quality of first instance decisions in order to reduce the number of abusive requests and proceedings, strengthen the rights of those seeking international protection in coherence with human rights jurisprudence, protect vulnerable persons requesting protection, especially children, and revise certain concepts that are largely unsatisfactory such as “safe countries of origin”, she explained.
MEPs have until 20 January to submit their amendments, the rapporteur's idea being to have the text voted in plenary during the first quarter of the year. A compromise should therefore be found with the Council, which is reticent about a number of the texts proposed by the Commission, especially regarding the question of access to the Eurodac system, the European database for fingerprints of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, and aspects of the Dublin regulation review. (Cor./transl.jl)