Parliament considers the future of the European Common Asylum System

The number of refugees has grown to more than 12 million in the past year, says the report drafted by Giusto CATANIA (GUE/NGL, IT), and there are huge discrepancies between Member States when it comes to the recognition rates of candidates to refugee status for certain third country nationals. These recognition rates can vary from approximately 0% up to 90%, it says. The report was adopted with 593 votes in favour, 65 against and 18 abstentions.

 

MEPs regret that the concept of the institution of asylum, "an essential part of democracy and protection of human rights, has been severely eroded in recent years".

 

 

They call on the Commission to table a proposal for a revision of Frontex's mandate in order to explicitly state that protection and human rights concerns are an integral part of the management of the EU external borders.

 

MEPs also welcome the provisions mentioned in the latest Commission proposals that Member States shall not hold a person in detention for the sole reason that he or she is an applicant for international protection. They consider that asylum seekers should, "as a matter of principle, not be placed in detention, in view of their particularly vulnerable position".

 

 

Moreover, the report asks that a single asylum application procedure and single standards for qualification as refugees or persons needing international protection be established, covering all requests for 'international protection' (refugee status, subsidiary protection and temporary protection).

 

Under the revised Dublin regulation asylum seekers should be granted the right to appeal against a transfer decision, the report says, adding that certain criteria relating to family, cultural and linguistic considerations should be given greater consideration in the decision as to which country is responsible for an asylum request.

 

 

MEPs consider that one of the objectives of the common European asylum system should be to set up effective solidarity mechanisms in order to improve the situation of countries with the greatest flows of asylum seekers.

 

They take the view that solidarity cannot be confined to the granting of financial resources and calls for the effective implementation of internal resettlement and relocation mechanisms on a voluntary basis as envisaged by the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum. They therefore call on the Commission to consider the possibility of setting up a European mechanism for transferring international protection, under the supervision of the future European Asylum Support Office, to allow the movement of refugees in Europe upon their request and thus ease the burden borne by some Member States

 

 

Finally, the report underlines that CEAS should be fully coherent with the objectives and activities in the area of refugee protection of EU instruments for cooperation with developing countries (such as the European Development Fund, the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI), the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument and the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights) and agreements and partnerships between the EU and developing countries (such as the Cotonou Agreement and the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership).