Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-09-Speech-1-164"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2009-03-09"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Future of the European Common Asylum System (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"fr"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20090309.19.1-164"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2009-03-09-Speech-1-1652
lpv:speaker	lp:Jacques Barrot2
lpv:translated text	"Madam President, honourable Members, the Commission adopted an action plan on asylum in June. The Commission undertook to present, between 2008 and 2009, concrete proposals to improve protection standards and to introduce more solidarity between the Member States and also to reinforce practical cooperation. In addition, in keeping with Mrs Roure’s report on open and secure reception centres, adopted on 5 February, Parliament identified a number of problems in these centres. The proposed amendments to the directive on reception conditions should provide an answer to these problems. Following the same principles, I proposed that the rights of asylum seekers subject to the Dublin procedures should be better guaranteed. We must, for example, facilitate the reuniting of families, the reuniting of children with the members of their family, and reinforce the procedural guarantees enjoyed by asylum seekers subject to the Dublin procedure. The best asylum procedure would be useless if access to such a procedure were not guaranteed. I agree with you, Mr Catania, on the need to improve our work with border officials, to train them and make them aware of asylum issues. You mentioned mixed flows. Frontex really needs to be able to undertake this training task. Once established, the support office will contribute to this by preparing manuals for border officials. We must also arrive at a better definition of responsibilities in the case of people rescued at sea. Where should they disembark? Where, if need be, could they ask for asylum? I am working with the Member States to try to find the right answers to these questions. Naturally, one has to be aware of the pressures the asylum systems are under in some Member States. We want greater solidarity, not only in financial terms, but also in the form of teams of rapid response experts, created by the office. We are also going to examine the possibility of the voluntary transfer of refugees to a Member State other than the one which granted protection. At the end of this week, I am going to Lampedusa and Malta to look at the practical requirements and at how the Union can offer its support. Let me take this opportunity, Madam President and honourable Members, to thank you for the extra EUR 10 million that Parliament approved at the end of 2008 for the European Refugee Fund. These EUR 10 million will be used relocate more refugees in the Union in 2009. I wish, in this matter, to stress the importance of the commitment made by the Member States following the mission we sent to Jordan and Syria on the relocation of Iraqi refugees in the Member States of the European Union. We are working, and I am working, on all fronts, in other words, improving the quality of the legislation, practical cooperation and solidarity between the Member States and between the Union and third countries. I would really like to thank Parliament for its support. We must make the European Union a true united common area of protection. It is indeed my intention to include this in the Stockholm programme. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you Mr Catania and Mrs Roure for all the very useful work that has been accomplished. We have set out the principles that should guide the action of the Union, maintain its humanitarian and protective tradition, guarantee real equality of treatment throughout the Union, improve the effectiveness of the asylum system and promote solidarity within the Union and between the Union and third countries. I am pleased to learn that Parliament fully shares the Commission’s philosophy. It shares our ambition to build a more protective, more effective and more just European asylum system. The fact that Parliament is now a co-legislator with the Council gives me hope that the negotiations, which will be long, will now have more chance of arriving at instruments of the highest quality which are more in line with the fundamental rights. Thanks, then, to the co-decision procedure and qualified majority voting in the Council, the Union can harmonise these international protection standards at a higher level. I thank Parliament for the solid support it has given to all the initiatives that the Commission has announced in its action plan. I also thank you for the priority you have given to dealing with my recent proposal on the creation of a European asylum support office. We need the support of Parliament to ensure the success of this mechanism, which will allow us to reinforce practical cooperation and the quality of the asylum systems. I hope the three institutions reach an agreement quickly so that this office can open as soon as possible. However, Mr Catania – and let me thank you for your report – you are worried about some situations, in particular, the detention conditions for asylum seekers, the rights of asylum seekers under the Dublin procedures, the impact of border control operations on access to protection and the burden assumed by certain Member States in the reception of the flows of asylum seekers. I have some answers for you. As for the conditions of detention for asylum seekers, the Commission has proposed, in the amendments to the directive on reception conditions, clearer rules than those currently in force, in particular the prohibition, in all cases, of the detention of unaccompanied minors. We have also specified the cases where detention is possible for adults, with safeguards such as the right to effective recourse or the right to legal aid and regular judicial checks on the detention measure."@en1
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