Brussels, 20/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the Seville Summit, the European Commission has adopted a new and less ambitious casting of its proposal on the minimum rules for asylum procedures, as requested by the Fifteen at the Laeken Summit last December. The new proposal opens the way to more exemptions and national measures than that submitted to the Member States in September 2000, which the Member States rejected considering it to be too binding. The European Commission hopes that this new text will encourage Member states to remember and recall in the Summit's conclusions that in Tampere in 1999 they had adopted a comprehensive programme for immigration and asylum, that did not only limit itself to combating illegal immigration.
The draft Council directive, according to its first article "has as goal to establish minimum standards concerning procedures for granting and withdrawing the status of refugee in Member States". Some major principles remain the same: informing asylum-seekers of their rights and how things are proceeding; - giving a reason for a rejection; - examining requests individually and objectively; - appointing an advisor to advise each underage asylum-seeker; undertaking to accelerate procedures so that they do not last over three months…The relaxation of the proposal concerns three important aspects. Firstly, the Commission proposes extending the possibility of considering a request as being "manifestly unfounded". Limited in the current proposal to asylum-seekers from countries regarded as "safe", this would be extended to the following cases: if another Member state, Norway of Iceland is examining the request; if the asylum-seeker has already been admitted to a refugee camp in another country. The Commission proposes introducing for these "unfounded" requests, as well as for some other cases (lying over identity or nationality…) an accelerated procedure. At the request of Member states, the Commission proposes granting them the right, under certain conditions, to maintain their own provisions for the examination of requests for asylum presented at the border (the stand-still clause). The Commission has also decided not to set up a precise two-tier system of appeal, simply stipulating that each Member state is free to provide for their own appeals systems. The text stipulates the cases where the right to an individual interview may be refused (not in a physical or psychological state and not having answered requests to attend). The text also outlines the condition for being detained if there is "objective necessity" for an effective examination on request or if there is a high-risk of absconding. Detention is also judged necessary for a fast-stream request. It must then be limited to two weeks. The new proposal adds the access of a legal adviser to the case and the systematic right to attend an interview.