Brussels, 02/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The committee on civil liberties of the European Parliament on Thursday 29 May approved, by a slight majority (22 in favour, 21 against) the report by the Italian member Giusto Catania (GUE/NGL), which strongly criticises Belgium's asylum policy. This report was drafted further to a visit of MEPs to a number of closed centres (EUROPE 9528). Its contents target living conditions in these centres: noise, promiscuity, the presence of children in adult areas, poor levels of medical assistance, an average duration of detention estimated at five months but which may be much longer, the presence of rejected applicants in the transit zone of the airport not being attended to in any way, and the fact that expulsion orders are written in the Dutch language alone. The report goes on to criticise the abnormal presence of Community citizens in holding centres for the nationals of third-countries illegally resident in Belgium. The MEPs of the EPP-ED group voted against the text. (B.C.)