Harmonising asylum law in Europe
Source: European Union
Many people try to enter the European Union when fleeing war or persecution in their own countries or for economic reasons. To meet this challenge more effectively, common legal regulations have been developed for the European Union.
The widespread abolition of checks at internal borders within the European Union requires close collaboration between the Member States in the areas of policing, border controls, residence and asylum issues and in granting visas. The governments of the EU Member States have therefore agreed, amongst other fundamental measures, to have a Common European Asylum System.
Several EU directives have been adopted in the area of asylum law in recent years, and these have been transposed into German law accordingly. The aim of these directives is to create comparable conditions in all Member States for accepting asylum-seekers and to ensure a minimum standard of protection for persecuted people.
The following directives are particularly relevant:
- Minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers (Directive 2003/9/EC)
This Directive regulates the harmonisation of the living conditions of asylum-seekers in the Member States. Its aim is to prevent unwelcome developments such as onward migration of asylum-seekers within the EU or multiple applications for asylum being submitted across several Member States. The Directive includes provisions on accommodation, medical provision, access to the labour market and education. - Minimum standards for the qualification and status as refugees or persons who otherwise need international protection (Directive 2004/83/EC).
This Directive regulates the substantive legal requirements for recognising refugees and for the subsidiary guarantee of protection, as well as the status rights connected with this guaranteed protection. Refugees are recognised in principle on the basis of the Geneva Convention. Subsidiary protection is given if the requirements of the Geneva Convention are not fulfilled, but the asylum-seeker is still in need of protection because he/she is threatened by severe violations of human rights.
The core elements of the directive include taking non-governmental and gender-specific persecution into consideration as part of refugee recognition and applying exclusion clauses in the event of delinquency as part of subsidiary protection. Minimum standards for the asylum procedure (Directive 2005/85/EC)
This directive regulates the asylum procedure that takes place before administrative authorities and, in principle, also before courts. It specifies the rights of asylum-seekers such as the right to an interpreter, to a personal hearing or to access to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR). It also formulates obligations such as the obligation to appear before authorities and to present documents. Additionally, the directive specifies various categories of decision and procedural principles that are intended to ensure efficient, fair decision-making in asylum applications. This also affects applications that do not have a clear foundation, entry into the EU from safe third countries and dealing with follow-up applications.As a result of numerous non-obligatory regulations, Member States have been afforded flexibility in implementing the directive.
Future prospects
The emphasis of future work lies in increased co-operation with refugees' countries of origin and transit countries and increased practical collaboration between national asylum authorities, in particular by setting up a European Asylum Support Office (EASO) with a co-ordinating role. This support office based in Malta is intended to ensure that EC legal acts are applied uniformly in the Member States.
