Brussels, 12/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The EU27 ministers of the interior reached agreement in Luxembourg on Friday, and they were soon followed by the European Parliament in endorsing the new EU asylum system on Wednesday 11 June. The new system is a series of directives and regulations negotiated over the past four years amidst much controversy, including on the “Dublin rules”, asylum-seekers being sent to countries whose reception conditions are appalling and rules allowing police in the EU to access the database of people who have requested asylum in the EU, a database known as Eurodac.
In the end, the member states and the EP managed to reach a compromise that improves the EU asylum system, said EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. Some of the legislation comes into force on 1 January 2014 and will harmonise widely differing practices. The rate of positive responses to requests for asylum varies widely. Six countries, including Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and France, account between them for 90% of all requests for asylum lodged in the EU. The conditions under which asylum-seekers are housed also vary enormously. Some southern European countries, like Greece, have been found guilty by the European Court of Justice of abusing human rights, given the poor treatment meted out to asylum-seekers. The spotlight regularly falls on Italy, too, in this connection.
In practice, the “package” includes texts on the conditions for claiming the right of refugee status, the revision of the Dublin regulation with the introduction of an early warning system rather than a suspension clause for the transfer of asylum seekers, a directive on reception facility conditions that enable asylum seekers to work after nine months, following the submission of their applications (exceptions are still possible), a directive on procedures that govern, for example, the final deadline to be met when meeting an initial request (six months maximum) and, finally, a directive that allows access, subject to conditions and as a last resort, for police forces to the Eurodac database.
On reception facility conditions, the detention of asylum seekers must be in specialist centres and only in prisons in exceptional cases. In compliance with the new Dublin regulation, asylum seekers should not be transferred to a country where there is a risk of their receiving ill treatment. An early warning system will be set up in an effort to predict or rectify failures observed in the respective national systems. With regard to Eurodac, police forces will be able to consult data but a reasoned application will be required and certainty that all the other available databases have been unable to provide the intelligence sought will be required. The European Council of Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) welcomed some of the progress made but is still disappointed. It says that the criteria allowing the detention of an asylum seeker are still too vague and could lead to cases of abuse. Police access to Eurodac could also impact negatively on migrants. Finally, ECRE criticises the general philosophy underpinning the package, which veers more towards prevention of abuses than the protection of asylum seekers. The package will officially be approved by the Council 20 June. (SP/transl.fl)