Brussels, 02/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - In a communication on 2 December, Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström called on member states to demonstrate greater solidarity on asylum, putting to them a range of instruments to help both those countries which are currently receiving the largest number of requests for asylum (France, Germany and Belgium together received 75% of requests in 2010) and also the so-called front-line countries, such as Greece, Malta and Italy, whose asylum systems can quickly be swamped by unforeseen events, as happened with the Arab Spring at the start of 2011 and the arrival in the EU of large numbers of migrants.
This voluntary solidarity would involve, for example, technical and/or financial assistance, or better supervision of asylum systems, with an early warning mechanism, for instance, the Commission says. There will, however, be no repeat of the call for a review of the Dublin Regulation introducing temporary suspension of transfers from one country to another of asylum seekers (the Dublin 2 Regulation says that the country responsible for the request is the one where the migrant first arrived in the EU, the other member states having the right to return migrants to this country of arrival). The Council was never keen on the suspension mechanism and the Commission has now placed the principle on record. No further reference to it was made in the text.
Among the instruments proposed, the Commission suggests, firstly, beefing up the capacity of the Malta-based European Asylum Support Office (EASO) which has been operational since June of this year. Cooperation could be improved by, for example, facilitating the secondment of officers to assist member states under particular pressure, the Commission says. Greece, whose asylum system has been roundly criticised, has already been assisted by EASO expert teams, for instance.
In terms of financial assistance, the Commission, which, on 15 November, proposed a 40% increase in the European home affairs budget for 2014-2020, calls on the member states to make the best possible use of existing funding until 2013. And on an issue dear to her heart, Malmström again urged member states to develop and foster relocation within the EU of those in receipt of international protection with the provision of financial assistance. This year, around 100 refugees who arrived in Malta have been taken in by Germany, as part of an EU pilot project involving six other member states. Initiatives of this kind remain, however, all too rare.
With regard to the Dublin Regulation, the Commission now proposes an assessment and early warning mechanism to detect problems in member states' asylum systems. Action will then be taken immediately to resolve the matter, yet again through, for example, EASO involvement. There is no further question, then, of suspending transfers of asylum seekers, Northern European member states scoring a definite point against the Commission and the southern countries, who have argued for suspension to be retained. (SP/transl.rt)