Brussels, 24/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 November, the Council of the EU finally adopted the famous “qualifications” directive adopted by the European Parliament on 26 October 2011, which revises conditions to be met by asylum seekers wishing to gain international protection, a Council press release states. Member states will have two years in which to transpose the new measures into national legislation. The directive sets out the standards for identifying persons in need of international protection in the EU, either as refugees or as beneficiaries of subsidiary protection. The text also guarantees a minimum level of benefits and rights for both categories of beneficiaries throughout the EU.
Overall, the amendments clarify several legal concepts used to define the grounds for protection thereby ensuring coherence with the case-law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Among other things, the main new elements of the amended qualifications directive include: - clarification of the legal concepts of “actors of protection”, “internal protection” and “membership of a particular social group” which enable member states to more quickly identify the persons in need of protection, to make more robust decisions at first instance and to better prevent abuse of the asylum system; - an enlarged family definition which, in the future, will cover not only the spouse or unmarried partner as well as unmarried children, but also any other adult legally responsible for an unmarried minor who applies for asylum; - and approximation of the rights of refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection with regard to family unity, access to employment and health care while allowing member states to continue differentiation between these two protection statuses as regards the residence permit as well as access to social welfare and integration facilities.
On the duration of the residence permit, the press release points out, while the rules continue to allow member states to differentiate between refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, they do enhance the rights of the latter. Any renewal of the residence permit after the initial validity of one year must be valid for at least two years. The rules for refugees remain unchanged, i.e. their residence permit must be valid for at least three years and must be renewable. Finally, the directive ensures better access to employment-related education opportunities and vocational training as well as to procedures for recognition of professional qualifications, as well as improved conditions for access to accommodation and integration facilities and better standards for vulnerable persons with special needs such as unaccompanied minors. SP/transl.jl)