Brussels, 19/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - With the countries of the EU currently looking at setting safeguards in place in the visa liberalisation regimes granted to the Balkan states to prevent their nationals from making asylum applications judged to be unfounded, Canada has also tightened up its handling of asylum requests to protect itself against dossiers filed by European nationals felt to be equally abusive. Canada adopted new rules on 14 December, with EU nationals largely behind the reasons for the toughening-up of the regime. According to the new federal provisions, asylum applications from countries of so-called safe origin, specifically those which respect human rights and offer state protection in line with the criteria retained by the government, will be dealt with much more quickly, within 30 to 45 days. The regime still provides for candidate hearings, but it should make it possible to throw out asylum applications felt to be unfounded.
For Canada, the EU is a source of tension over its asylum system. In 2011, 25,000 asylum applications were filed by European nationals and 80% of asylum applications made in the world by Europeans were in Canada, according to government figures. And although most applications were withdrawn and the Europeans were largely absent when convened, at least 91% of the applications made it to the end of the procedure before being rejected in the same year.
Out of all EU nationals, Hungarians filed the most applications. In 2011, 76% of all asylum applications from the EU came from Hungary, although Canada's data do not indicate whether or not these are nationals of Roma origin. This is a relatively new trend. Previously, the Czechs topped the table, but Hungary has gradually taken over as the country whose nationals make the most applications to Canada. The country maintains visa requirements for three countries of the EU, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania, partly because some of these nationals were able to take advantage of visa-free holidays to Canada in order to request international protection there. At this stage, Canada imposes no visa obligations on Hungarian nationals, although this could be re-evaluated if the tendency in the “asylum” dossiers should be confirmed.
For Ottawa, the concerns are in any case the same as those of the Europeans: reforming the asylum regime in order to guarantee faster protection for those who really need it and avoiding unnecessary pressure. The Canadians also believe that they could save nearly $1.6 billion over the next five years, particularly in social benefits paid to asylum seekers. The new regime makes seeking asylum less attractive; for example, work permits will no longer be automatically issued to asylum seekers. This raft of measures has come in for criticism from Amnesty International, which argued that although Hungary is on the list of “safe countries”, it still does not guarantee Roma and Jews effective protection against “persecution, discrimination and violence”. (SP/transl.fl)