Brussels, 03/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of Antonio Vitorino, the European Commission adopted, this Tuesday 3 April in Strasbourg, the draft Council Directive relating to "minimum standards for hosting asylum seekers in the Member States" (legal basis: art.63 of the EC Treaty).
This text has as aim to: - set minimum standards for the hosting of asylum seekers in the EU in view of ensuring a dignified standard of living; - foresee different stages in the asylum procedure and specify the details: information on the advantages they may benefit from, certificates proving their status, free movement, housing, food, clothing, daily allowance, family unit (family reunification: Ed.), medical and psychological care, schooling of minors; - outline the measures that could be taken to make to national hosting systems more effective (administrative cooperation, coordination between competent authorities and the other sectors including NGOs); - limit the secondary movements of asylum seekers solely motivated by the diversity of rules applicable in terms of hosting conditions; - ensure that the asylum seekers see themselves granted comparable living conditions in all the Member States, as, in virtue of the Dublin Convention, they do not have the right to choose the Member States responsible for assessing their asylum request.
The draft Directive, which answers the conditions of the Tampere Summit that had invited the Heads of State and Government to establish a common European asylum systems including minimum common short-term conditions for hosting asylum seekers as recalled Antonio Vitorino, respect the fundamental rights and observe the principals contained in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It aims to guarantee the full respect of human dignity and the right to asylum. It applies to all third country nations and stateless people who register a request for asylum at the border or on the territory of a Member States, as well as on the members of the family that accompany them, but it does not apply to the diplomatic or territorial asylum requests introduced with the Member State representations. The Member States will also be able to adopt provisions more favourable in terms of hosting conditions for asylum seekers to the extent that they are compatible with the present Directive.