Brussels, 11/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - European Ministers with responsibility for Immigration and Asylum decided in Paris on Tuesday 10 September to move towards a common asylum regime, French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux announced, following the two-day meeting (see EUROPE 9736). “This conference saw Europe take another step forward” towards the construction of an asylum regime common to all members of the European Union, Hortefeux said. He also announced that the support office, planned for before the end of 2009 by the European Immigration and Asylum Pact, would be in put in place in the first three months of next year. He said that the support office, which will work in cooperation with the UN High Commission for Refugees, would be responsible for gathering information on the countries of origin of asylum seekers, assisting member states in crisis situations and joint training. Swedish Immigration Minister Tobias Billström said that the EU was moving very quickly away from the lottery of the present asylum situation. There are wide differences in the way asylum requests are dealt with in the EU. “We are working to take the Pact into action,” said European Immigration Commissioner Jacques Barrot. He said that he would review the texts that were needed for a common regime to be set up and have them adopted before the end of 2009. He undertook to increase solidarity towards those member states that were in the front line (including Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus). He announced that a European team would shortly be sent to Jordan and Syria to identify the most vulnerable among the Iraqi refugees and try to launch the first relocation in Europe programme. Seven of the EU's 27 member states have put in place programmes of this type. (B.C./transl.rt)