Between 2002 and 2006, EU member states received over 1.5 million asylum applications. The latter accounts for 66 per cent of the total asylum claims submitted in 50 industrialised countries around the world. The union’s enlargement and the subsequent extension of its borders towards the south and east has provided new challenges for the EU, in particular, with respect to the union’s capacity in dealing with asylum issues both from a qualitative as well as from a quantitative perspective. Malta bears witness to these new challenges as it ranks second for most asylum applications received per capita among the EU 27.

At the European Council held in Tampere in 1999, member states had already set themselves the ambitious goal to establish a common EU policy on immigration and asylum, including a common European asylum system. Since then, the EU has succeeded in laying the foundations for such an objective through the adoption of legislation aimed at ensuring greater uniformity among the various national legislative frameworks, however, there is still a lot of work to be done. The Hague Programme adopted in November 2004 set 2010 as the timeframe by which a common European asylum system had to be in place.

Last June, the European Commission published a Green Paper on the future Common European Asylum System which identifies a wide array of areas that need to be addressed prior to the 2010 “deadline”. According to the Green Paper, this new phase should target the attainment of higher common standards of protection and ensure greater solidarity between EU member states.

To improve access to protection, the document envisages the adoption of a single procedure for the assessment of asylum applications, rather than having national procedures approximated. Uniformity of protection could be achieved through greater harmonisation of the eligibility criteria, in order to minimise the divergence between the interpretations offered by the various national authorities. The next step would be to ensure more harmonisation in the rights and benefits attached to the protection received such as access to healthcare, social welfare, residence permits, education, and employment, among others. All these elements could be sustained by increased mutual recognition of national asylum decisions as well as the transfer of protection responsibilities, once a beneficiary takes up residence in another member state.

One aspect of this Green Paper which could be of particular interest to Malta is the section concerning Solidarity and Burden Sharing, in the light of its concerns related to the increased influx of asylum seekers in recent years. The paper recognises the need to address the burdens faced by countries that have a limited absorption capacity and which may be somewhat penalised by their geographical location. In this regard, the Commission calls for a “corrective burden sharing mechanism” by putting in place a distribution system which provides for intra-EU resettlement of migrants which have received protection from a particular member state.

Mixed flows are another matter of concern for countries located at the EU’s external borders. In situations of mass influxes, the host country often faces a situation where the composition of the inflow is made up of genuine asylum seekers and economic migrants who are not eligible for any protection. Identifying swiftly those migrants in need of protection is a major hurdle for countries which lack the capacity to deal with sudden and intensive influxes of migrants.

Apart from providing financial assistance to boost reception conditions, it is recommended that the EU strengthens operational support through an effective and well-coordinated deployment of asylum experts which can assist the affected member state, particularly in a crisis situation. Such experts would be tasked with the initial profiling of the individual migrants, thus contributing towards the improvement of the identification process carried out by the respective member states.

At this stage, the Green Paper is primarily aimed at providing food for thought with respect to the various issues concerning the EU’s asylum policy. On the other hand, the Commission shall continue receiving contributions from member states, stakeholders and the general public up to the end of this month. Following this consultation process, a policy plan should be issued in the first quarter of 2008, which should include the necessary measures to be implemented as well as a timeframe for their implementation. Undoubtedly, governments and other interested parties shall be closely following developments in this field due to the widespread interest generated by asylum issues both locally and abroad.

Mr Caruana is a Research Analyst at “Forum Malta fl-Ewropa”