92000E0101

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0101/00

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(19 January 2000)

Subject: EU asylum policy

In reply to my oral question H-0722/99, the Council explains that there are no common definitions in the EU of what constitutes a 'safe country of origin' and a manifestly unfounded request for asylum.

In the light of that answer, will the Council say:

1. whether the decisions on asylum policy taken at the Tampere Summit have any implications for how Member States should assess asylum cases in which the applicant has been subject to persecution other than State persecution, and

2. whether the Summit's decision on the full and inclusive application of the Geneva Convention has any practical implications for how Member States should deal with and assess individual asylum cases?

Reply

(13 March 2000)

The Tampere European Council, while providing for the future common European asylum system to be based on the full and inclusive application of the Geneva Convention, calls for the establishment in the short term of, inter alia, common standards for a fair and effective asylum procedure, approximated rules on the recognition and content of refugee status as well as measures on subsidiary forms of protection. The European Council calls upon the Council to achieve these aims on the basis of proposals to be submitted by the Commission. The implications for the Member States mentioned in the Honorable Member's questions will flow from those proposals which the Council will examine as a matter of priority.