Common European Asylum System: security for Europeans and safety for asylum protection holders

In the European Union, 327 345 asylum applications were received in 2012. This is an increase of 7.8% on the previous year. Some seek asylum because they genuinely need it. Some do not need it but want to enter the EU nonetheless. What is clear is the need for the EU to have a system which ensures procedures for processing applications are both fair and effective but also robust and not open to abuse.

A common policy on asylum and international protection in accordance with international conventions

The Common European Asylum System (CEAS) - the EU asylum and protection policy - is provided for (in Article 78) in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This states that the EU should develop a common policy on asylum, subsidiary protection and temporary protection of asylum-seekers, with a view to offering appropriate status to any third-country national requiring international protection in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement and the 1951 Geneva Convention on the status of refugees.

The first phase of the CEAS

During the first phase of the CEAS (1995 to 2005), three Directives were adopted dealing with minimum standards for qualification for international protection, procedures applicable to applications for asylum and reception conditions for asylum seekers.

The Dublin Regulation was adopted, which sets out how the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States is determined.

Financial solidarity was promoted with the establishment of the European Refugee Fund.

The Temporary Protection Directive provides for minimum standards in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons.

EPP Group’s position on the second phase of the CEAS

Experience has taught us that some asylum seekers warrant our protection, others don't. Experience has also taught us that when one EU state refuses to grant asylum protection to a person, this person tends to travel to another EU Member State to ask again for the same protection, when in fact the protection is still not warranted.

On EU asylum rules the EPP Group has a simple and open-minded approach: yes, we want to significantly help people from failed states and war-torn countries, but we also want to repatriate people who do not come from these volatile regions.

Based on these views, the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee voted on a Directive on Minimum standards for procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing international protection (EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur Monika Hohlmeier from Germany) and a Regulation on the Establishment of 'Eurodac' (a fingerprint database) for the comparison of fingerprints (Rapporteur Monica Macovei from Romania). These legislative reports comprise the second phase of the Common European Asylum System.

Ensuring protection of asylum seekers and avoiding multiple asylum applications

The Directive on minimum standards for procedures aims to address deficiencies in granting and withdrawing international protection and to ensure higher and more harmonised standards of protection, progressing towards a common asylum procedure and a uniform status.

A Commission consultation revealed deficiencies in the level of procedural guarantees for asylum applicants, likely to give rise to gaps in protection and the risk of refoulement (the expulsion of persons who have the right to be recognised as refugees). At the same time, these deficiencies in procedures invite asylum shopping and asylum abuse.

Following a resolution adopted by the European Parliament in March 2011, the European Commission published a modified proposal as a basis for trilogue discussions. These tripartite meetings between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission were concluded in March 2013. The last remaining item in the trilogue negotiations was the issue of favourable conditions for "victims of torture" and "unaccompanied minors" in applying accelerated procedures.

With the new tools that will apply in EU territory following the adoption of the Directive, it will make no sense for an asylum seeker to set out to travel to another EU Member State when his or her first application for asylum was turned down by an initial EU Member State.

Easier exchange of information for more harmonisation and security

The EU already has a community-wide information technology system (a database) which stores fingerprints of asylum seekers. It traces the itinerary of an asylum seeker from one Member State to another.

The proposal for the establishment of EURODAC is part of a first package of proposals which aim to ensure a higher degree of harmonisation and better standards of protection in the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). EURODAC, an information technology system, was created to facilitate the application of the Dublin Convention.

The system allows Member States to determine whether an asylum applicant or a foreign national illegally present in a Member State has previously applied for asylum in another Member State, and verifies whether the asylum-seeker was previously apprehended when irregularly crossing the border of a Member State from a third country. The Regulation lays down strictly-defined and harmonised rules on the storage, comparison and erasure of fingerprints, while it also provides for data protection and data security safeguards. One of the breakthroughs is that law enforcement agencies will now have access to EURODAC, under certain safeguards and conditions.

The EPP Group has ensured EURODAC is designed in such a way that access to it is restricted as much as possible but at the same time it is fit for providing enforcement agencies with the information they need in a timely manner.

Next steps

The two draft reports comprising the second phase of the CEAS were adopted this week in the Committee on Cicil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

With these new rules, the EPP Group has set out to boost the security of Europeans but also to ensure the protection of the asylum holders.