Brussels, 07/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Reactions to the different initiatives taken on Wednesday by the Commission in the asylum area (EUROPE 9440) were relatively well received. Richard Williams, the European head of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (CEAS) said, “it is good to see refugee protection and human rights back on the EU agenda, which for too long has been dominated by the fight against irregular migration”. Williams explained that, “The aim of a common asylum system must be to create a level playing field, where any person seeking protection will be treated in the same way, according to the same high standards, whenever they apply for asylum in the EU”. This organisation regularly underlines the bad conditions in which asylum seekers are met with in the EU (EUROPE 9394). British Green MEP Jean Lambert pointed out that the Dublin regulation contained numerous loopholes, “We need to develop and strengthen reception capacities in member states. Operational assistance and asylum expert teams are some of the proposed tools that must be further developed”.
During the presentation of the Green Paper, Greece was accused of having refused to examine requests for asylum sent to it from other member states. A European source indicated that, “the Commission services have had several contacts with the Greek authorities on the subject and have received the assurance that the practice has changed”. The same sourced added, that, “however, the Commission needs to see the Greek legislation in order to be convinced not to launch an infringement procedure”. (bc)