Common European asylum system - Main contents

In the Hague Programme of November 2004 the European Council called for the establishment of appropriate structures involving the national asylum services of Member States with a view to facilitating practical cooperation towards three main objectives:

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  Achieving an EU Single Procedure

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  A joint approach to Country of Origin Information (COI)

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  Addressing particular pressures on asylum systems and reception capacities resulting from factors such as geographic location.

The Communication on Strengthened Practical Cooperation addresses the Hague mandate and makes recommendations for how the EU should manage asylum through practical cooperation. The Communication proposes that practical cooperation between Member States is achieved through the establishment of a asylum cooperation network through which the Commission will steer a programme of activities designed to achieve each of the objectives set out in the Hague Programme. Member States' asylum services will cooperate to pool expertise and resources and develop joint approaches to procedural and information gathering aspects of making decisions on asylum claims.

Strengthened practical cooperation should deliver a "common tool box" for asylum authorities of the Member States answering to daily and operational needs of practitioners in the EU. Use of this tool box should lead to an improvement in quality across all aspects of the management of asylum in Member States and particularly on decision making, given the focus of the Hague objectives. This should contribute to a better assessment of the application of the first stage of the Common European Asylum System and provide a firm basis for the launching of the second phase instruments. The Communication proposes a programme of activities specifically focused on the three objectives set out in the Hague Programme.

Achieving a Single Procedure

The Commission Communication on the Single Procedure of 2004 set out why the EU should take steps towards a Single Procedure. The Qualification Directive obliges Member States to assess facts and circumstances relating to an application for international protection in exactly the same way for both refugee status and subsidiary protection. That means that there exists a potential protection gap for those applications for international protection which were not covered by the guarantees of the Asylum Procedures Directive. The establishment of an EU wide Single Procedure where all possible grounds for protection are considered in one procedure will help reduce delay and repeat applications in dealing with asylum claims. As well as delivering considerable cost and efficiency savings, a more consolidated procedure will ensure greater transparency and that all claims for protection in the EU are covered by the same guarantees.

It will be necessary to identify where administrative changes need to be made in Member States' practice and how to include all possible grounds for protection in one decision. Following the completion of the necessary activities, the Commission will propose legislative action to ensure that, at a minimum, the guarantees applicable to claims for refugee status in the Asylum Procedures Directive extend to applications for subsidiary protection.

Country of Origin Information (COI)

An objective, transparent and accurate COI system that delivers official, rapid and reliable information is central to any assessment of whether a person should benefit from international protection. A joint approach to COI should first enable the sharing and pooling of information available at official level on countries of origin. A further step should be the agreement on common guidelines on drawing up this information. The EU should also work towards the longer term objective of the establishment of a common database for Country of Origin Information as an additional resource for all Member States.

The Hague Programme also foresees the establishment of a European support office for all forms of cooperation between Member States relating to the Common European Asylum System. A consultation and feasibility study will take place on the functions and role of a European support office after the establishment of the common asylum procedure envisaged in Hague and at Tampere. It could be envisaged that responsibility for a COI database would be one of the first responsibilities of such an office.

Particular Pressures

How to address particular pressures is a question which has faced the EU in particular throughout this last year. The Commission intend to propose amendments to the European Refugee Fund and ARGO programmes so that funds can be made available quickly for the implementation of emergency measures aimed at granting appropriate reception conditions and applying fair and effective asylum procedures in other situations of arrivals of large numbers of persons seeking international protection. The EU should also explore the setting up of expert teams, to be coordinated by the asylum cooperation network, to address the pooling of resources such as interpretation, case working, logistics and transport to facilitate reception and processing for sudden arrivals of large numbers of migrants at the external border.