Brussels, 25/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - Little progress is expected in Thursday's Council on the difficult discussions on the harmonisation of asylum request processing procedures, whereas the options and derogations added by Member States along the way are of serious concern to protectors of refugees' rights. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, met European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino on Tuesday to inform him of his grave misgivings (yesterday's EUROPE, p.12, and of 5 November, p.15). Amnesty International and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles have added their voices to his criticism, as has Statewatch. These NGOs feel that in the current state of play of discussions, the text would give a "green light" for the worsening protection of refugees' rights. The Commission says that is it "not losing hope that a value-added result can be reached", without really being able to say what form this added value might take, apart from the existence of a European text. It believes that reaching a satisfactory agreement is more important than the deadline set. Furthermore, it is expected that Germany will maintain all of its reservations on the proposed definition of refugees' rights (EUROPE of 7 June).
The Justice and Home Affairs Council on 27 and 28 November could allow several important agreements and adoptions. According to several sources, agreement may be possible on the proposal to harmonise the definition and sanctions of drugs trafficking (blocked for over a year by the opposition between the Netherlands on the one hand, and France and Sweden on the other, on the possession of small quantities of soft drugs and "coffee shops": (EUROPE of 19 December 2002). Advisers have apparently agreed on a text authorising the exemption for the Netherlands, but which criticises drugs tourism. However, this agreement is to be confirmed by Coreper on Wednesday, then by the Council. As the parliamentary reservations have been lifted, the regulation on parental responsibility could be definitively adopted, under the reserve of several outstanding technical questions (EUROPE of 4 October, p.7). If certain reservations are lifted in Coreper or Council, political agreement could be reached on biometric data in residence permits and visas, the executory title for uncontested claims, and an agreement on criminal legal assistance with Iceland and Norway. Council could adopt conclusions on the "main elements" of the European border management agency (EUROPE of 13 November, p.11). It will focus on the blockage of work on the proposed directive on economic immigration.