Against the resistance of the ECR Group and individual members of extreme right parties, members of the CoR's Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs today backed by overwhelming majority the draft opinion on the Reform of the Common European Asylum System - Package II and a Union Resettlement Framework by PES member Enzo Bianco, Mayor of Catania (Italy).
"Local and regional authorities are on the frontline of the current refugee crisis, and face serious difficulties in receiving and integrating asylum seekers, and maintaining social cohesion", said Mr Bianco. "This is a structural crisis. We must have the courage to face it with a sense of solidarity and responsibility," he urged, underlining the need for sustainable solutions which do more to emphasise migrant's rights.
While welcoming the second reform package put forward by the European Commission in June this year, Mr Bianco makes a number of proposals for changes in the legislation as well as more general recommendations to it, including:
- Strengthening the protection of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers, making sure that they are represented by an independent "guardian" throughout the relevant legal procedures;
- Adopting a critical stance on the introduction of the regular review of the reasons for international protection, as these reviews may cause insecurity for applicants and at the same time increase the burden on local and regional authorities, making theintegration of refugees more difficult;
- Questioning the legitimacy of introducing a maximum time limit for international protection;
Calling for independent information (from NGOs, for instance) to be considered in determining the situation in different countries of origin when assessing the entitlement for international protection; - Allowing a longer period of time than that provided for in the Commission proposal (e.g. six months) to obtain a residence permit on other grounds in the event of withdrawal of international protection;
- Reconsidering the decision to exclude from resettlement applicants who have entered the European Union irregularly during the last five years;
- Taking into account family ties as well as language and professional skills in order to determine the Member State responsible for examining an asylum request, in order to maximise asylum seekers' chances for speedy integration.
Mr Bianco will discuss his proposals at the December CoR plenary session with the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos. On this occasion, the opinion on the first set of reform proposals for the Dublin regulation will be adopted. The opinion on the second set of proposals, adopted by CIVEX on 24.11.2016, will be adopted at the February 2017 plenary session.
