4. THE DUBLIN CONUNDRUM: FROM THE DUBLIN CONVENTION TO THE PACT ON IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM Flashcards
What is the Amsterdam Treaty about?
Under the Treaty of Amsterdam, member states agreed to transfer certain powers from national governments to the European Parliament across diverse areas, including legislating on immigration, adopting civil and criminal laws, and enacting common foreign and security policy (CFSP).
What is the Maastricht Treaty about?
The treaty established a European Union (EU), with EU citizenship granted to every person who was a citizen of a member state.
Before the Maastricht Treaty, the EU did not have the power to control asylum cases. The states had it.
What is the Lisbon Treaty?
The Treaty of Lisbon gives the EU full legal personality. Therefore, the Union obtains the ability to sign international treaties in the areas of its attributed powers or to join an international organisation. Member States may only sign international agreements that are compatible with EU law.
What is “asylum shopping”?
Multiple asylum applications to different european countries, wherever the conditions are better.
What is a “refugee in orbit”?
A refugee who, although not returned directly to a country where they may be persecuted, is denied asylum or unable to find a State willing to examine their request, and are shuttled from one country to another in a constant search for asylum.
Which are the main goals of the Dublin System?
To avoid:
- asylum shopping;
- refugees in orbit;
and to re-orient asylum applications to the external periphery of Europe.
What are the main downsides of the Dublin System?
- A gradual distinction between MS receiving and sending Dublin cases;
- The predominance of the illegal entry criterion;
- The clash between MS of the center and of the periphery;
- The degradation of the asylum systems in the MS of the periphery.
It was not designed properly to share the burden between the MS. There’s a distinction to the entry countries and the central ones.
What is different with the new Dublin Regulation?
- An early warning mechanism instead of the suspension of transfers
- Suspending transfers in case of danger of violation of fundamental rights
- The right to effective remedy
- Hierarchical criteria are maintained
- Dublin covers cases of applicants and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection
- In the case of minors, the definition of the family member is expanded
- A significant role for the Commission (though the delegated acts).
What are the new elements presented by the 2016 Comission Proposal?
- The applicant MUST submit the application to the country of entry;
- Inadmissibility check on the grounds of first country of asylum or safe third country by the first MS;
- It gives a wider definition of family (it includes siblings and it allows for family created after the departure from the origin country, but before arriving in the MS);
- More guarantees for minors (best interests of the child);
- The applicants have an obligation to cooperate (otherwise they have sanctions).
What is the screening regulation?
It is applicable to:
- Persons entering the EU without fulfilling the entry conditions (visa or passport).
- Persons who, while not fulfilling the conditions for entry into the EU, request international protection during border checks.
- Persons brought ashore in search and rescue operations at sea.
- Persons apprehended within the territory if they have eluded controls at the external borders in the first place.
What is the screening regulation (in a simpler way)?
Persons who enter the Eu countries irregularly or are found in the internal borders or were found in searches or request international protection go through a process of tests at the external borders (within 5 days) and then the authorities decide whether they should stay or go back.
Those who seem to be migrants and not refugees will be returned back immediately.
What is solidarity in the asylum system?
The redistribution of the refugees and asylum seekers, but there is a different understanding between the MS of the South (planes for moving refugees) and the MS of the North (training and funds).
What is the effective remedy?
The right to appeal.
