EU proposes new asylum rules to stop migrants crossing
Europe
By Gabriela Baczynska
By Gabriela Baczynska
The proposal would standardise refugee reception facilities
across the bloc and unify the level of state support they can get, setting
common rules on residence permits, travel papers, access to jobs, schools,
social welfare and healthcare.
It would grant prospective refugees swifter rights to work
but also put more obligations on them, meaning if they do not cooperate with
the authorities or head to an EU state of their choice rather than staying put,
their asylum application could be jeopardised.
The five-year waiting period after which refugees are
eligible for long-term residence would be restarted if they move from their
designated country, the Commission said.
The proposal also spells out more cases in which
asylum-seekers could be detained, something Jean Lambert, a British Green Party
member of the European Parliament, said showed the EU was taking the wrong
attitude to people seeking sanctuary.
"The EU has justifiably come under fire for its
response to the refugee crisis but today's proposals ... will do nothing to
allay this," she said, accusing the Commission of seeking to curb the
rights of asylum seekers and "an obsession with punitive measures".
"People are fleeing because their lives are threatened
and homes being destroyed, not because the EU's asylum system is gold plated -
it's not!"
The plan, which will be reviewed by EU governments and the
European Parliament, comes after Brussels proposed in May a system for
distributing asylum seekers, an idea opposed by eastern EU states which refuse
to accept refugees.
Only 3,056 people have so far been relocated under the
scheme that was meant for 160,000 people, the Commission said. Hungary and
Slovakia have challenged the system in the courts.
Asked whether Brussels would punish countries, that also
include Poland and the Czech Republic, for not complying, Avramopoulos said:
"Were not here to punish, we are here to persuade. But if this persuasion
doesn't succeed, then yes, we're thinking of doing that. But we're not there
yet."
SAFE LIST
Last year's record arrivals triggered bitter political
disputes in the EU, where the wealthier states that ended up hosting most of
the people accused the newer members in the east of showing no solidarity.
A deal with Turkey in March has since cut the arrivals to
Greece to a trickle but has prompted concerns about human rights.
Unlike the Turkey route, however, which mainly brought
Syrians and other people with a strong cases for asylum into Europe, the bloc
is now worried over a rise in arrivals from Africa through Libya. Most people
on that route do not qualify for asylum and, under the EU rules, should be sent
back.
The Commission wants to draw up lists of "safe
countries" outside the bloc, which would help EU states return people,
after Athens' refusal to recognise Turkey as such a place hindered deportations
from the Greek islands back to Turkey.
To discourage chaotic flows by facilitating legal migration,
the Commission also proposed an EU-wide system for resettlement directly from
refugee camps. It said Brussels would pay 10,000 euros for each person EU
states bring in.
But Slovakia, the current holder of the EU's rotating
presidency, was sceptical on chances for unified asylum system.
"We can only talk about real burden-sharing when the
quality of life is the same in all EU states," said Bernard Priecel, head
of Slovakia's migration service. "Otherwise we will always have secondary
movements. How can you force them to stay?"
(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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