Brussels, 19/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - If British prime minister Tony Blair attends the 20/21 March European Council (see p.4), he is planing to discuss a British proposal on reform of the international right of asylum. These ideas will then be discussed in greater detail at the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Veria on 28/29 March since the UK has requested they be put on the agenda. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, will be attending the JHA Council.
London wants its EU partners to support measures that would affect both the EU and non-EU countries. On the one hand, the UK is suggesting asylum seekers be accepted in countries closer to their country of origin in "areas of international protection under the auspices of the UN High Commission for Refugees", explained a UK diplomat. On the other hand, the UK is considering the option of setting up joint assessment centres for requests to enter the EU, explained the same diplomat.
Last week, Tony Blair sent the other 14 Member States a letter outlining the proposal and met with Ruud Lubbers who himself then discussed the idea when he met European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino in Brussels on Tuesday. Commissioner Vitorino's circle said he had no a priori position on the ideas but had asked for them to be explained in more detail, saying that everything compatible with the Geneva Convention and the European Convention of Human Rights could be discussed. If the other Member States agree with these ideas, sources suggest, the Commission may incorporate them in current discussions on European asylum legislation.
Following the adoption of two decisions on conditions for accepting asylum seekers and deciding which country is responsible for a request for asylum, there are still two items of legislation being discussed by the Council. In line with the Seville deadlines, the proposal on the definition of refugee status has to be approved by June and the proposal on asylum procedures by the end of 2003.
The UK wants to cut the number of requests for asylum lodged in the UK.