Brussels, 28/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament civil liberties committee (LIBE) gave its approval on Tuesday 27 November to the agreement reached by rapporteur Cecilia Wikstrom (ALDE, Sweden) with the Council on reform of the Dublin II regulation, the objective of which is to identify which member state responsible for examining an asylum application. The agreement - also approved by the Council on Wednesday - had already been adopted in committee on 19 September but had to be confirmed after further comitology negotiations, a source on the LIBE committee said. Under the new “Dublin III” agreement, there will be no suspension clause as such for transfers of asylum seekers from one country to another. Member states will, however, have to continue to process the cases of asylum seekers when their transfer to the member state principally responsible (within the Dublin system) is considered impossible, for example, as a result of systemic failures in the asylum procedure or of the conditions for the reception of asylum applicants. An early warning system has been introduced so that problems related to reception of asylum seekers in any particular country can be identified before they are actually met. The agreement also gives asylum seekers the right to an individual interview and to present their case to the authority responsible for determining the country that will be charged with examining their applications. Asylum seekers will also have the right to have the procedure conducted in a language that they can understand. In the event of transfer to another member state being challenged, member states will also be obliged to provide free legal assistance to those involved, except in cases where a tribunal decides that the appeal has no chance of success. Appeals may also have a suspensive effect on transfer decisions. The agreement states, too, that detention of asylum seekers should only be permitted in cases of serious risk of absconding and should not exceed three months. The GUE/NGL Group criticised the agreement. The agreement still has to be put to the plenary session for approval, probably in January. (SP/transl.fl)