By Simon Zekaria - 23rd January 2004
The European Union is ready to commission charter flights to return asylum seekers back to their country of origin.
The €30 million measure, announced during an informal meeting of EU justice ministers in Dublin, shows Brussels is willing to step up its fight against illegal immigration in co-operation with member states.
And an EU agency set up to the run the plane fund is expected to be in place this time next year.
Michael McDowell, the Irish minister for justice said: "An efficient return policy is considered a key element in tackling human trafficking and illegal immigration."
The move comes after the head of the United Nations Commission for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, also at the Dublin meeting, showed concern that the fast-track measure masks greater neglect of “international protection standards” for illegal immigrants arriving in the EU.
“If we are not careful, we risk overwhelming fragile and under-resourced asylum systems in the new EU member states,” he said.
“If that happens then Europe's new harmonised legislation may simply create a new set of problems.”
Fast-track asylum processing could see unteneable burdens placed on refugee systems in new European countries, said Lubbers.
“There are new EU states in central Europe which currently only have 15 or 20 asylum assessors. A decade ago they had no asylum systems at all,” he said.
“There is a danger the harmonised procedures may simply collapse in the new border states, leading to more instead of less irregular movement between EU states.”
And he presented proposals aimed at helping Europe - gearing up for its historic enlargement by ten new states in May - pull together a common European asylum policy.
Lubbers outlined a four-point plan for the EU to bring asylum policy in line with the UN’s vision.
Asylum reception centres on EU territory where “experienced teams of asylum assessors and interpreters” process refugees.
Burden-sharing EU quotas to ensure the even distribution of refugees granted asylum across Europe.
And an EU Asylum Agency and an EU Asylum Review Board to manage the centres and set quotas.
The meeting comes as justice ministers agree EU laws setting minimum standards for the processing of refugees.
Brussels asylum proposals have become “bogged down” in lengthy discussions under Rome’s much-criticised EU presidency.
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