06.01.2012

At the start of the Danish Presidency, ECRE has published a number of recommendations to the EU institutions and the EU Member States on key aspects of the EU's common asylum policy in the making.

As the Council and the European Parliament (EP) remain determined to meet the ambitious 2012 deadline for the completion of a Common European Asylum System (CEAS), ECRE urges all institutional actors to remain equally ambitious with regard to the quality of second phase legislative instruments still under discussion and the level of protection they must ensure.

Under the Danish Presidency, the EU will also need to further develop a coherent and protection-orientated approach with regard to the external dimension of the CEAS. ECRE notes with concern that the EU’s response to the migratory and protection challenges resulting from the Arab Spring both as regards resettlement of persons in need of international protection and the strengthening of protection space in the region has been relatively poor. Therefore, if the CEAS is to be credible to the outside world it will have to include serious efforts to share responsibility with those countries and regions that host far greater numbers of refugees than the EU and the Danish Presidency should play a leading role to this end.

Finally, ECRE calls on EASO to make full use of the wealth of experience and expertise that exists within NGOs when further developing practical cooperation between EU Member States in the field of asylum.