European Commission proposes Assylum reforms....

Migrant crisis: European Commission proposes asylum reforms

• 39 minutes ago
 
• From the section Europe

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionUnder the current system, EU countries have the power to return asylum seekers to the first EU state they entered

The European Commission has come up with alternatives for a "more humane and efficient" way of handling asylum in response to the migrant crisis.

The current EU system is widely thought to have failed because of the influx of a million people through Greece.

Among the options is a plan to scrap a rule for refugees to claim asylum in the country they arrive in.

The so-called Dublin regulation proved unworkable when Germany opened the door to Syrian refugees last August. 

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans argued the current system had to change, saying: "We need a sustainable system for the future, based on common rules, a fairer sharing of responsibility, and safe legal channels for those who need protection to get it in the EU."

As most irregular migrants in the past three years have arrived in the EU in Greece and Italy, the two countries have been left with the majority of cases. 

Both states stopped registering every arrival and most new arrivals on the Greek islands since August continued their route through the Balkans.

Eventually several countries put up fences and border controls in an attempt to halt the influx.

Mr Timmermans said there were two options

• Amend the first-country rule with a "corrective fairness mechanism" to provide help to a struggling country
• Scrap the the first-country rule altogether and move to a system based on redistributing refugees more evenly.

To put a stop to so-called asylum shopping, rights for asylum seekers would be made conditional on being fingerprinted and remaining in the relevant EU country. 

Several countries do not want to see wholesale changes to the system. 

While Italy wants to see it abolished, Germany and the UK are keen to keep the existing first-country system, which enabled the British government to deport almost 2,000 asylum seekers in 2015.

The Berlin government would like a relocation scheme established for asylum seekers to alleviate the pressure on Greece and Italy, and halt the influx of migrants.

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionMore than one million migrants have arrived on the Greek islands since the start of 2015

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionAn EU deal to return migrants to Turkey from Greece came into operation this week

• Short journey back - BBC correspondents in Turkey and Greece
• EU-Turkey deal a 'Herculean task'
• The crisis in seven charts

Whichever proposal is finally agreed, the UK cannot be forced to take asylum seekers as it has opt-outs from EU asylum policies, BBC Europe correspondent Damian Grammaticas explains.

Under an EU deal aimed at cutting off the migrant route through the Balkans, Greece has begun deporting migrants to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or if their claim is rejected. 

However, the Athens government paused the operation on Tuesday, a day after the first boats took 202 people to the Turkish port of Dikili.

Hundreds more are due to be removed later this week but the migrants are arriving in Greece faster than they can be sent back.