EU JUSTICE ministers are resisting core elements of plans from the European Commission to deepen the reach of the union’s asylum system.
While home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmström wants to rework fundamentally the union’s asylum law by 2012, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said yesterday that there was “some scepticism” as to whether that timetable was achievable.
At an informal meeting in Brussels, the ministers expressed doubt about proposals from the EU executive to change rules under which applications for asylum must be processed in the EU country in which the applicant first arrives.
Ms Malmström’s proposal would relax a measure known as the Dublin Regulation, which compels the member state responsible for examining an asylum application to take back applicants who are irregularly in another member state. In a spirit of solidarity, the commissioner believes exceptions should be made in cases where member states face “particular migratory pressure”.
While Mr Ahern said the Government may opt in if it sees merit in the proposals from a “strategic national point of view”, he said there was little enthusiasm for the proposal to change the regulation.
“I made the point – I wasn’t alone, I have to say there was broad consensus, majority consensus – that we tamper with this at our peril.” The regulation was a cornerstone policy against “asylum-hopping” and “asylum-shopping” in Europe, he said.
“We all accept that there are countries who have difficulties currently in relation to a large influx of numbers. Thankfully, we’re not in that space any more. But the problem is, if you allow a relaxation of the Dublin Regulation potentially . . . there would be a pull factor. It would draw people from outside Europe into certain countries, who would move from one European country into another, based on the relaxation.”
Other proposals on the table include measures that would guarantee an “adequate level” of material reception conditions for asylum seekers while facilitating access to the labour market after six months.
