Brussels, 05/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 27 March, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the European Union (Coreper) adopted the last two outstanding directives of the asylum package, paving the way for the entry into force of a new common system on asylum soon. The 27 EU member states approved the procedures directives on asylum and the Eurodac directive allowing, in particular, conditional police access to the database of digital fingerprints of asylum seekers. These legislative texts had been subject to an informal agreement with the European Parliament and are due to go the Parliament's civil liberties committee around 24-25 April, a Parliament source stated before the Easter break.
The asylum package, which has been on the EU's negotiating table since 2008, includes texts on the Dublin regulation, setting the responsible state for an asylum request, the qualifications directive and the directive on conditions of welcome - which have all been subject to agreements.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström has hailed this agreement on these two legislative texts that finalise the asylum package and constitute great progress for the whole EU, as she put it.
This new common regime on asylum aims to harmonise the procedures in the 27 EU member states so that the chances of applicants obtaining international protection are about the same in each country. This new regime will enter into force at a time when applications for asylum continue to grow in the EU - especially from Syrian refugees. According to the latest figures from Eurostat, the number of applicants for asylum registered in the EU was up in 2012, reaching 332,000 applicants, and Syrians were the second ranking nationality for applicants, coming after Afghans. (SP/transl.fl)