Brussels, 07/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - As reported yesterday, the European Commission has approved a working paper on the relationship between ensuring internal security and respecting international protection obligations and instruments, requested by the Home Affairs Council meeting on 20 September, but the Commission also considers it a contribution to the wider debate within civil society on the fight against terrorism.
The paper takes a four-pronged approach: 1) It analyses the existing legal mechanisms for excluding those persons from international protection who do not deserve such protection, focusing on those suspected of terrorist acts; 2) It then considers which legal steps, such as criminal prosecution, can be taken by governments confronted with a person excluded from international protection regimes; 3) It elaborates in more detail on what level of harmonisation of legislation and administrative cooperation is needed and possible at European level, in the short as well as in the mid to long term; and 4) It assesses the adequacy of the internal security related provisions in EC legislation and (future) Commission Proposals for Directives in the asylum and immigration field.
The paper is built on two premises - bona fide refugees and asylum seekers should not become victims of the recent events; and there should be no avenue for those supporting or committing terrorist acts to secure access to the territory of the Member States of the European Union. The Commission stresses that any security safeguard therefore needs to strike a proper balance with the refugee protection principles at stake, endorsing the line taken by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that scrupulous application of the exceptions to refugee protection available under current law is the appropriate approach.
Communication on common asylum policy introducing open coordination method
The European Commission has unveiled a Communication on the common asylum policy, introducing an open coordination method giving a detailed explanation of how the open coordination method would apply to asylum and the Commission's initial suggestions for European guidelines, that will be considered in a consultation exercise with a view to preparing a formal proposal. The Commission is proposing five general EU guidelines: 1) improving understanding of humanitarian migratory flows; 2) developing an effective asylum system to protect the needy by applying the full Geneva Convention; 3) improving the effectiveness of return policies; 4) incorporating issues vis-à-vis international protection in relations with third countries; and 5) drawing up common integration (and "insertion") polities for people benefiting from international protection in any Member State. To implement the EU guidelines, the Commission feels Member States should draw up national action plans which should be reassessed and changed on a regular basis. This method could be used initially until legislative instruments are put forward.
The Commission also recommends the application of the open coordination method to asylum at first in the run-up to the adoption of guidelines before the end of the Spanish Presidency. National action plans would then be submitted to the Commission so that the first assessment round can be completed in 2003; 2) deadlines would be set for adopting instruments in the first asylum harmonisation wave (details of which have yet to be negotiated on the basis of the scoreboard updated at the end of July); 3) Member States would rapidly taken measures in order to benefit from the Eurodac system at EU level; 4) the directive on temporary protection in the event of massive influx of displaced persons (that came into force in August 2001) should be rapidly transposed in national law; 5) the decision to launch the ARGO administrative co-operation programme should be adopted in the first half of 2002 so that action can be arranged as soon as possible; and 6) the Council will consider strengthening co-operation with countries of origin and transit.
Ahead of the Laeken Summit, the first of the Commission's annual reports into the EU's common asylum policy should be the thread throughout the EU's asylum policy, according to the Commission, adding that the report is a tool for transparency and public debate and should crystallise the lessons to be learned from the assessments currently being carried out.