Asielbeleid: betere bescherming voor vluchtelingen (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Europees Parlement (EP) i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 23 april 2013.

New rules for dealing with asylum seekers in the EU are being voted on by the EP's civil liberties committee on Wednesday 24 April. It concerns two deals with the Council for a unified EU asylum procedure that would clarify asylum seekers' position, but also give the police access to a database with their fingerprints to help them in the fight against terrorism. In both cases MEPs secured better protection for people seeking sanctuary in the EU.

Asylum procedure

The first proposal concerns an update of the asylum procedures directive from 2005. The idea is to introduce a single EU-wide procedure for granting and withdrawing international protection within six months as at the moment there are significant differences in how member states treat asylum seekers.

The new rules would ensure that anyone in need of special treatment - for example because of their age, disability, illness etc. - would get adequate support, while unaccompanied children would be appointed a qualified representative by the national authorities.

The directive being updated is one of the five acts forming the backbone of the Common European Asylum System.

Fingerprints database

Asylum seekers have their fingerprints stored in a database called Eurodac to help authorities determine whether they ever claimed asylum in another EU country before. It is also used for irregular immigrants to see if they entered the EU illegally.

Under the new proposal national police forces and Europol would be able to compare fingerprints linked to criminal investigations with those contained in Eurodac. However, a deal between EP and Council stipulates that police access to Eurodac would be restricted to fighting terrorism and serious crime and other cases where there is a major public security concern. The civil liberties committee will vote on this proposal on 24 April.

Eurodac was introduced by the Dublin II regulation, which also determines which member state is responsible for dealing with an asylum application.

Next steps

All MEPs are expected to vote on both proposals during the June plenary.