EU pushes ahead with common rules on asylum seekers
All European Union countries should process applications for asylum within six months, the EU's executive arm said on Wednesday, proposing further harmonisation of rules on refugee treatment.
The European Commission said its proposals gave clear guidance for deciding on asylum applications and what procedures to follow to avoid unequal treatment across the 27-nation bloc.
"Asylum seekers should have the same chance of being accepted and rejected in all EU countries," Security and Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot told a news conference.
Asylum and immigration are highly sensitive in many EU countries, such as Italy and Greece, which say they cannot cope with hundreds of thousands of people arriving as potential illegal migrants, often on creaky boats.
The time taken to process applications varies from several weeks in some EU countries to around a year in others. Rights groups say that some countries accept 80 percent of asylum seekers from Iraq, while others take almost none.
The Commission's proposals will be scrutinised and, possibly, amended by national governments and the European Parliament before becoming law.
The legislation would give EU countries three years to conform to the requirement of examining asylum applications within six months.
It would force authorities to present clearly to people their rights when arriving in a country in which they seek asylum, including migrants trying to enter the EU by boat from Africa.
"Those people who arrive on boats will be given information about their rights," Barrot said.
Human rights groups said the proposals did not guarantee just examination of claims. The legislation would continue to allow states to deny proper asylum procedures to people who had transited from a country deemed safe, the groups said.
"Slamming the door on refugees without any consideration of their individual protection needs puts in danger their lives," said Bjarte Vandvik, chief of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles.
Rights groups and some politicians have criticised Italy for automatically sending boat people to Libya without checking whether they may have a rightful claim to asylum.
Italy and Greece complain they carry a disproportionally heavy burden of the often-illegal migration and that other EU countries are not doing enough to help them.
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Martin Saliba
Oct 21st 2009, 23:29
Too bad it (the 2 vowels I've come to detest so much) did not "PUSH AHEAD" for "MANDATORY" "COMMON" BURDEN SHARING "WITHIN 6 MONTHS" from arrival, with all EU countries "to conform within 3 years" also.
C.ZARB
Oct 21st 2009, 20:54
What immigrants want is not to know about their rights but a safe passage to their former colonialist's countries. Its a disgrace that they end up being locked in a small country, with an already big overpopulation problem and no means to give them a future let alone integrate them successfully.
Louis Saliba
Oct 21st 2009, 19:47
Mr Barrot's statement that "Asylum seekers should have the same chance of being accepted and rejected in all EU countries" is certainly in keeping with the EU's "One size fits all" policy which completely ignores the various differences between the circumstances of individual Member States. The acceptance or rejection of asylum applications by any particular country will depend not only on the validity of such applications, but also (and this is important in the case of Malta) on the maximum number of migrants each particular country can safely absorb without prejudice to its national social and cultural characteristics. In our case, we are already beyond saturation point.
Joanne Micallef
Oct 21st 2009, 19:17
Why is Malta not mentioned AT ALL, especially when Italy and Greece are far larger countries than us, not to mention that proportionally Malta has the heaviest burden between the three countries.
Denis Catania
Oct 21st 2009, 19:17
All of Malta's asylum seekers come from a SAFE country. That country is LIBYA.
lgalea
Oct 21st 2009, 19:17
What Barrot should do is to stop interfering in our internal affairs and order his country and the other European ex-colonialists to take all our illegal immigrats. We never colonized a=other countries and stole their riches and should not allow one single illegal immigrat to remain in Malta.
Malcolm Farrugia
Oct 21st 2009, 18:18
"Italy and Greece complain they carry a disproportionally heavy burden of the often-illegal migration and that other EU countries are not doing enough to help them." If Italy and Greece are faced by a huge clandestine influx, what should us maltese say as citizens of a tiny rock?
Jaques Barrot stop bothering us with the usual mumbo jumbo and buzz words, if your heart realy aches for the Africans, why don't you grant them asylum in Brussels!
"Slamming the door on refugees without any consideration of their individual protection needs puts in danger their lives," said Bjarte Vandvik, chief of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles.
Now we have anoder Eu bigshot singing the same song. How i wish that the Lisbon Treaty won't manage to pass, maybe when our MEP's get their acts together, they will use the much needed veto!!!
louise vella
Oct 21st 2009, 17:54
What the EU should do first of all is to lay down a clear distinction between real refugees and economic migrants who enter EU countries illegally in the guise of refugees. The confusion between the two categories is encouraged by do-gooders, such as UNHCR, which instead of sticking to its turf, that is refugees, tries to take responsibllity of so-called "mixed groups". These may have 1 genuine refugee out of a group of 1000 but UNHCR tries to claim refugee rights for all of them. Of course once illegal economic immigrants are in a country they are difficult to send back. Everybody knows the asylum system is abused on a large scale by so-called "rights groups" and such abuse has been undermining the credibility and effectiveness of the asylum system. The EU should start by guaranteeing the system against abuse by NGOs.