09/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - At a public hearing on the future common European asylum system, which took place in Brussels on 7 November, the European Commission announced the timetable for a raft of measures it intends to take to create the common European asylum system. By the end of 2007, the Commission intends to amend two directives, one on minimum standards concerning the procedures for granting and withdrawing refugee status in the member states and the other on qualification, i.e. minimum standards on the conditions to be met by the nationals of third countries or stateless persons in order to be able to claim refugee status. The Commission also plans to present, in July 2008, an action plan for the years to come in the field of asylum, and to amend three pieces of legislation: the Dublin II regulation, the Eurodac regulation and the directive on hosting conditions for refugees. All of these initiatives come in response to the launch of the Commission's Green Paper last June (EUROPE 9440). (B.C.)