On Wednesday 25 April, the European Parliament's civil liberties committee established its position on the draft regulation to harmonise procedures between member states and speed up the processing of asylum requests (see EUROPE 12008).
The report by Laura Ferrara (EFDD, Italy) was adopted by a comfortable majority (36 votes in favour, 12 against, 8 abstentions) and also excludes Turkey from the joint list of safe countries, despite the fact that the candidate country for European Union accession was included in the initial proposal for safe countries of origin that the Commission proposed in September 2015 (see EUROPE 11385).
On this last point, MEPs consider the Turkey would be unable to be included in the so-called safe countries of origin, those that in actual fact do not present any risk to their own nationals who request asylum in the EU. This list of safe countries of origin will allow the member states to carry out fast track examinations of asylum requests because the dossiers are deemed less well founded than those emanating from candidates from third countries that are judged to be at risk.
On the other hand, the report does not focus on the concept of so-called “safe third countries”. According to this concept, an asylum seeker can be sent back to a third country that has been judged safe even if he does not have the nationality of this country and if he has used the territory of this country to get into the EU. This is the basis of the EU/Turkey agreement of March 2016 which operates on the principle that Turkey should be considered a safe third country (see EUROPE 11515). The Commission considers that the vote at the Parliament does therefore not involve the bilateral agreement on migration and just cases involving Turkish nationals. There are also guarantees with Ankara regarding Syrians who are possibly sent back to Turkey, added the Commission.
The draft regulation as adopted on Wednesday by MEPs, includes an annex listing the so-called safe countries of origin (democracies that are not involved in persecution, torture, indiscriminate violence or armed conflicts). These include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.
According to certain sources, however, the exclusion of Turkey from this list is likely to have a symbolic impact on the description of Turkey as a safe third country. The Council, which has still not established its negotiating position, could possibly attempt to reintroduce Turkey into the list of safe countries of origin during the inter-institutional negotiations on this legislative text.
Maximum six month period for examining procedures
For all other issues, the draft regulation stipulates that asylum seekers should generally be registered within a three day timeframe and their eligibility assessed within a month. An initial decision will need to be submitted within six months. The asylum seeker will have the right to a personal interview, legal assistance and a right to appeal.
The text on Wednesday explains that a fast track examination procedure of two months will be applied if the asylum seeker provides incoherent or bogus information, if they are attempting to exclusively delay an expulsion, if they come from a safe country of origin or if they represent a danger to national security.
Unaccompanied minors, however, will not be subject to the fast track procedure except for reasons relating to national security or public order. It should be pointed out that asylum seekers, according to the MEPs, should submit their requests in the first member state of entry into the EU or in the one established within the framework of the Dublin regulation that is currently being negotiated (see EUROPE 12008).
In the event of a refusal to disclose personal information (name, date of birth, gender, nationality, ID card), provide biometric data or allow the authorities to examine their documents, the request will automatically be rejected.
A demand for international protection will also be deemed inadmissible if the interested party has already obtained refugee status in the third country (first country of asylum) or if he has a “sufficient tie” (previous residency, four example) with a safe third country where they can “reasonably expect to find protection”, explains Parliament.
Specific guarantees for minors
MEPs would like to give guarantees for minors whose asylum requests are priorities. All unaccompanied minors should therefore benefit from a tutor in the 24 hours following their request. Above all, the concepts of “first country of asylum” and “safe third country” should not apply to unaccompanied minors unless this is clearly in their interest.
The EPP Group welcomed a vote that will make the procedures more efficient. In the other political camps, particularly the S&D, certain MEPs, however, regretted the fact that the text has been toughened up despited certainly containing a certain amount of progress on legal aid, for example, even if it remained unsatisfactory overall. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)