Parliament takes step in the wrong direction on asylum system reform
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The European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee reached a worrying compromise on the reform of the Dublin II regulation yesterday.
Voting on the results of trialogue negotiations, the committee approved the reform plans with the conspicuous result of 18 votes in favour, with 25 abstentions and 5 votes against.
The GUE/NGL was the only group where all Members present voted against the text.
GUE/NGL MEP Cornelia Ernst comments: "The fact that after years of negotiations with the Council a majority in committee was only able to abstain on the vote shows the lack of sincerity with which many Members approach the European asylum system issue.
This is especially true for the European People's Party (EPP) group, whose Members are also partisan to the majority in Council."
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Dublin II regulation sets out criteria that determine which Member State is responsible for examining an asylum application.
GUE/NGL MEP Dennis de Jong, the group's shadow rapporteur on the Dublin II regulation, adds: "Although I am happy that at least we were able to make some improvements to the text, I still have my doubts about the system as such."
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