Commissioner welcomes new rules for EU asylum seekers

European home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmström has welcomed parliaments decision to update the existing ‘inefficient, dysfunctional and unfair’ system governing asylum seekers in the EU.

The new rules will allow police authorities access to the EU database of asylum seekers and will also contain provisions to identify those who are most vulnerable.

Malmström said, “The common European asylum system (CEAS) has been my top priority since the beginning of my mandate and I have been involved in negotiations since the first day.

“Getting the CEAS in place is an historic achievement, something the EU member states and the parliament have been aiming at since 1999.

“The CEAS will provide better access to the asylum procedure for those who seek protection; will lead to fairer, quicker and better quality asylum decisions; will ensure that people in fear of persecution will not be returned to danger; and will provide dignified and decent conditions both for those who apply for asylum and those who are granted international protection within the EU.”

The Swedish official added, “We have travelled a tough road to get here. But our achievement is not yet fully complete”

“We now need to put in a great effort to implement our legislation and ensure this common system will function well and uniformly.

“Only then we will have an area of protection and solidarity deserving its name – an achievement that we can be proud of.”

EPP deputy Manfred Weber said, “Europe will have a modern set of rights for refugees. We want to be open and we want to lend a helping hand to those who need it but we want to combat abuse.

“We are talking about special protection for children in refugees’ proceedings and about legal aid procedures. We want this concluded within a six month time frame so that proceedings can be dealt with quickly. We want to have a future on the labour market for asylum seekers so that they can look after themselves financially.

“And we want to have clear-cut rules for detention centres, especially for those countries that do not treat asylum seekers well.

“Asylum seekers are not prisoners and they should not be treated as such”, he added.

Speaking about the proposed EU database of asylum seekers, Romanian MEP Monica Macovei said, “The access of law enforcement agencies to fingerprints, which are stored on Eurodac on a ‘hit or not’ basis, in cases of serious crime or terrorism, is a major step forward in speeding up the fight against crime.

“Safeguards for protecting individual rights are there and Eurodac can be accessed only as a last resort.”

Sylvie Guillaume MEP, rapporteur for the directive, explained, “Thanks to the revised directive adopted today, EU asylum law now includes a mechanism to identify vulnerable asylum seekers, including on the ground of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

“This was strongly opposed by most member states, and its one of our very clear achievements.”

However, Greens deputy Jean Lambert, the group’s asylum and migration spokesperson, was less complimentary, describing the outcome as a “massive missed opportunity”.

She said, “Instead of adopting a set of rules, based on a humanitarian and rights-based approach, national governments have worked to make as few upgrades as possible, the European parliament has had to fight for almost every improvement.

“The result will mean that those who come to the EU seeking asylum will still often be treated like criminals: detained in prison-like centres for extended periods.”

She continued, “The rules fail to provide basic guarantees for many detained asylum seekers and, while they do address conditions of detention, they are riddled with exemptions.

“A truly common European approach to asylum, based on humane treatment of those who come to the EU to escape persecution, will sadly not result from the legislation that we are set to adopt.”

Written for theparliament.com

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