Only clear asylum rules will guarantee protection for those in need

The common procedure for granting asylum in the European Union - voted upon today in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee - is a step forward to ensure a fair and efficient asylum procedure.

Jeroen Lenaers MEP, the EPP Group Spokesman on the new legislation, said: “It has always been our aim to establish quick, fair and efficient procedures, where those that have a right to asylum receive it quickly and those that do not, have clarity about their situation in good time so that the return procedure can start.”

The Regulation will harmonise asylum procedures in all Member States, with a maximum time period of 6 months for regular procedures and a stricter period of 2 months for accelerated procedures in cases where, for example, asylum applicants come from a safe country of origin.

“All asylum seekers will have an obligation to register. In the case that an applicant does not comply with this obligation, the application will be rejected. In essence, this is a crucial piece of legislation in order to combat asylum shopping in Europe”, added Lenaers.

The Report is based on simpler, clearer and shorter procedures; procedural guarantees safeguarding the rights of the applicants; stricter rules to prevent abuse of the system; and harmonised rules on safe countries.

“It is important to discourage asylum seekers from taking dangerous routes to Europe, especially when they had already found safety outside of Europe. In those cases, when a person from a safe third country does decide to travel onwards after having already found safety, Member States will have the possibility to send those applicants back. This has been resisted by a number of groups, but we, the EPP Group, made sure that the rules will be clear in this regard.”

The aim of this Regulation, directly applicable in Member States, is to replace the Asylum Procedures Directive which establishes a fully harmonised common EU procedure for international protection, and provides for a fast, high-quality determination of the international protection needs of applicants.