European Commission supports rapid alert asylum system

During an informal meeting of home affairs ministers in Copenhagen, on 26 January, the European Commission appears to have definitively backed the creation of a rapid alert system to prepare for crises and manage emergencies within the Dublin II Regulation, which is currently being revise.

This rapid alert system was proposed by member states as an alternative to the system of suspending asylum transfers for countries dealing with high levels of migration, initially proposed by the Commission but rejected in Council (by Germany, France and the United Kingdom).

Proposed in 2008, the reform of the Dublin II Regulation includes different clauses aiming to identify as quickly as possible the member state responsible for examining an asylum application, thereby increasing solidarity between member states.

However, negotiations remain fraught, since member states are balking at committing to a restrictive text. The dossier is so controversial that on 21 December 2011, the Court of Justice of the EU issued a judgement imposing limits on its application.

"There seems to be agreement on the fact that we need an evaluation, and a rapid alert system that will allow us to detect problems" within the asylum systems of member states, predict problems and in this way minimise costs, said Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom. Nonetheless, "we should advance and be more concrete," she said, warning that this system "will not be enough" and "we need a common European asylum system".

The system comprises a series of legislative texts, and the revision of Dublin II should be finished before the end of 2012. However, this goal is rather unrealistic. According to a European source, ministers are particularly resistant to the idea of establishing a permanent relocation programme, as proposed by the Commission in its communication on reinforcing solidarity between member states on the issue of asylum,

published on 2 December.

In 2009, the Commission launched the pilot project EUREMA (EU Relocation Malta Project), which allowed 227 recipients of international protection to be moved from Malta to other member states. The Commission considers this project to have been successful, and therefore wants to propose another, voluntary and permanent relocation scheme in 2012.

Regarding the possibility of developing a common framework for practical and non-restrictive solidarity, the Danish EU Presidency should now prepare conclusions on this matter for March 2012.