EU agency of Asylum will help make asylum procedures in Member States of higher quality, more uniform and faster
The European Parliament and European Council today, i.e., Tuesday, June 29, 2021, reached an agreement to transform the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) into a European Union Agency of Asylum.
Planned under the aegis of New Pact on Migration and Asylum, the new agency will help make asylum procedures in Member States of higher quality, more uniform and faster. The European Commission has also welcomed the agreement.
Welcoming the agreement, the European Commission tweeted,
We have just concluded an EU agreement to upgrade @EASO to a European Union Agency for Asylum.
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) June 29, 2021
The agency will make a tangible difference to asylum procedures, improving protection for individuals and creating greater convergence between EU countries.#MigrationEU
More than 500 experts, case handlers or reception specialists will work together to provide effective support to national asylum systems facing high figure of asylum seekers. They will prepare entire administrative asylum procedure for decision by national authorities and offer assistance in the appeal stage.
Taking it to twitter, the President of European Commission – Ursula von der Leyen tweeted,
I welcome the agreement to establish an EU Agency for Asylum #EUAA
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 29, 2021
This will help make our asylum procedures in the EU faster and more uniform.
Thank you @2021PortugalEU for your hard work on this.
I count on @EU2021SI to continue negotiations on the #MigrationPact
Speaking on the occasion, the Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, said, “Member States will now be able to rely on the full operational support of the EU Asylum Agency, both under normal circumstances and when they are in difficulty. The agency will make a tangible difference to asylum procedures, improving protection for individuals and addressing gaps to create greater convergence between Member States’ asylum systems.”
Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said, “We need asylum decisions to be taken in a fast and fair manner and with the same high quality everywhere in Europe. And we need high and convergent reception standards across Member States. The new Agency will help achieve this, building on the excellent work of EASO.”
The new agency will ensure high-quality decision-making by developing operational standards, indicators, guidelines and best practices for the implementation of Union law on asylum. The idea is to have better monitoring and reporting on Member States’ asylum and reception systems to ensure more consistent practices throughout Europe. It will also focus on capacity building in non-European Union (E.U.) countries to improve asylum and reception systems and support E.U. and Member State resettlement schemes, building on the existing cooperation with United Nations (U.N.) agencies.
The European Commission had first proposed a Regulation of the European Union Agency for Asylum in 2016. Co-legislators found a first provisional agreement on the proposal in June 2017, but the conclusion of the process was put on hold. The proposal was then integrated into the New Pact on Asylum and Migration in September 2020.
This is the second legislative agreement on New Pact proposals, following agreement on the Blue Card Directive in May 2021. Operational aspects of the New Pact are also already being discussed such as enhanced work on the external dimension of migration policy, stronger coordination on returns, or the deployment of European Border and Coast Guard standing corps.
The agreement reached today needs to be formally endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council. As soon as the new regulation comes into force (20 days after publication in the Official Journal), the European Asylum Support Office will become the E.U. Agency for Asylum and will be able to act based on its new mandate.
