Infringement of the right to asylum by the Spanish Law on Public Security

28.9.2015

Question for written answer E-013164-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Miguel Urbán Crespo (GUE/NGL) , Lola Sánchez Caldentey (GUE/NGL) , Pablo Iglesias (GUE/NGL) , Tania González Peñas (GUE/NGL) , Estefanía Torres Martínez (GUE/NGL)

In March 2015 the Spanish Government approved the Law on Public Security. This new law stipulates that ‘foreigners found to be attempting to cross border containment installations so as to pass illegally into Ceuta or Melilla may be rejected in order to prevent their illegal entry into Spain’. This wording means that immigrants intercepted at the border may be expelled without recourse to the legal procedures to which they are entitled, such as the possibility of requesting asylum.

In addition to hundreds of NGOs, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the UNHCR have condemned this provision for violating the right to asylum.

1. Does the Commission consider Spain to be infringing the right to asylum, as enshrined in Directive 2013/32/EU and Article 18 of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union, with this provision?

2. The wars in Syria and Iraq are forcing thousands of people to flee their countries. Does the Commission believe that this provision could prevent these people from receiving the protection they need and to which they are entitled?