'Hodgepodge' asylum laws

Life for asylum seekers in the European Union often does not measure up to the minimal standards agreed upon by EU nations. But a new, unified package of laws for all EU countries aims to improve the situation. EU Commissioner of Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, and EU diplomats agreed to a package that composes the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) on Wednesday (26.03.2013).

But for the past 14 years, the bloc's countries have been haggling over the terms of the system, which include the length and arrangement of asylum procedure, financial support for immigrants, the likelihood of being granted asylum and regulations for deportation. One topic criticized by asylum aid organizations are the future guidelines for holding asylum seekers in custody: to determine their identity, to investigate their right to enter a country, or to secure evidence about their reasons for fleeing. Asylum seekers could also be detained for turning in an application for asylum late, or if they are suspected of being a security threat or are at risk of going underground.

EU ministers and the European Parliament must still ratify the common system of regulations, which is expected in May or June.

DW: After clearing up the last details of the package of laws, EU Commissioner of Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström said that decisions on asylum applications will be fairer, faster and better in the future. Do you agree?

Karl Kopp: Looking at the results of this second step in unifying measures for a common asylum policy, I'd say that's pretty optimistic. One would have to say the package is rather modest. And in some cases, the EU Parliament and the European Council have passed some alarming measures.

Such as?

For instance, there are acceptance guidelines which are to soon be established which concern the social circumstances during an asylum procedure. Six different reasons for holding someone in custody have recently been laid down: upon arrival or when one country transfers someone to a different EU country because they are not responsible; public order and security; establishing identity; and so on. In other words, Europe is standardizing a shabby system of detention and thereby expanding it. That means that more asylum seekers will be held in custody than before.

The new regulations foresee asylum seekers being able to seek employment throughout Europe after nine months. At the moment, Germany forbids employment to asylum seekers for a period of 12 months. That would shorten the period by three months. Do you not see that as an improvement?

We agree that people should be able to take life into their own hands and be able to seek employment and education. That's clear. But that can't be a trade-off for sharper measures for detaining people. The European Parliament is always saying: "Look at this: we've sped up the process for gaining an employment permit." But at the same time, the European Parliament did rally together to stop the practice of detaining asylum seekers. Things weren't even adapted for children and youth fleeing alone from their home country. That's quite sad.

Are there parts of this new policy which you welcome and support?

Faster entry to the employment market is a good thing. A faster procedure for establishing identity for those who are particularly vulnerable, for the traumatized and for minors is also supposed to be put in place. That will bring improvements, also in Germany. There will probably also be improvements in offering therapy to the traumatized and victims of torture.

But we're not happy with the asylum procedure guidelines and the regulations for determining responsibility for an asylum claim for an EU member state. However, at least there will protection in the future, also in Germany, against being transferred to another country. In other words, people will no longer be able to blindly trust that they can expel someone to another country and say that because it's an EU country, someone is still safe. Instead, the person in question will be able to express his or her position and the judges will have to review it. Still, this positive element only came about due to a judgment passed down by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg - it was not due to the will of politicians to establish this parameter.

The new set of asylum regulations aims to ensure that refugees will be offered the same of level protection across the EU. Do you believe EU countries will be able to implement these new legal measures?

During the first stage between 1999 and 2004 we already witnessed that many of the states did not appropriately implement the measures for beginning an asylum procedure or in granting refugee status. There were countries that did not turn a single measure into reality - Greece, for instance.

It is essential that people review much more closely whether or not these European laws are actually being upheld. But in essence, this hodgepodge system will just continue, even after the European Parliament has ratified the common policy. We'll still have homeless asylum seekers in many European countries. We'll have more detention centers at the borders. These new laws won't change that. They'll perhaps only give those in question a few more procedural rights. But detention practices in Greece, Malta and other peripheral countries will continue.

So you don't see any progress in the new asylum system?

We see a few improvements. But we're talking about a process that's gone for 14 years but with too little coming of it. The European Parliament, which is allowed to have a say, has let things get too watered down. People made too many compromises just to ensure that something is passed; all the deadlines for the asylum system were missed. I have to say that the whole process was just not transparent. It is nearly impossible for anyone outside the process to understand what has been decided between the EU Presidency, the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission. But it affects hundreds of thousands of people. And it's not a public topic. That's not a contribution to European progress.

Whatever has now not been agreed upon with regard to this asylum system, or is absolutely wrong, will likely have to be taken to the European Court and will drag out in a long, lengthy process. But that is not my vision of a politically viable and humane model of society. Politics has failed.