20 Reception conditions for asylum
seekers
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11214/11
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COM(11) 320
| Draft Directive laying down standards for the reception of asylum seekers (recast)
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| Legal base | Article 78(2)(f) TFEU; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Home Office
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 19 October 2012
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 428-xxxvii (2010-12), chapter 8 (12 October 2011)
HC 428-xxxii (2010-12), chapter 11 (6 July 2011)
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| Discussion in Council | 25 October 2012
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| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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BACKGROUND AND
PREVIOUS SCRUTINY
20.1 The EU already has in place a "first phase"
of asylum measures which include Directives establishing minimum
standards on who qualifies as a refugee, on reception conditions
for asylum seekers, and on procedures for granting and withdrawing
refugee status, as well as two Regulations (Dublin and Eurodac)
which help to determine the Member State responsible for examining
an asylum application. The UK participates in all of these measures.
20.2 In 2008, the European Council set an end of 2012 deadline
for agreeing a second phase of asylum measures which would complete
the establishment of a Common European Asylum System. This, according
to the Stockholm Programme (which sets out the EU's priorities
on justice and home affairs for the period 2010-14) is a key policy
objective for the EU and should ensure that "individuals,
regardless of the Member State in which their application for
asylum is lodged, are offered an equivalent level of treatment
as regards reception conditions, and the same level as regards
procedural arrangements and status determination. The objective
should be that similar cases should be treated alike and result
in the same outcome."[82]
In order to achieve this goal, the Commission has proposed a
"second phase" of asylum measures which are intended
to introduce greater uniformity in the treatment of asylum seekers
across the EU.
20.3 The draft Directive laying down standards for the reception
of asylum seekers ("the draft Reception Conditions Directive")
would repeal a 2003 Directive establishing minimum standards on
reception conditions, whilst re-enacting many of its provisions
and introducing a number of significant changes which are designed
to establish more uniform reception conditions across the European
Union. Our Thirty-Sixth Report of 6 July 2011 summarises the
main changes proposed and the Government's response.
20.4 In September 2011, the Government informed us that it
had decided not to opt into the draft Directive and confirmed
that the UK would, however, remain bound by the 2003 Directive.
The Government nevertheless intended to play an active role in
negotiations, not least to ensure that the content of the draft
Directive did not prejudice the UK's interests in those parts
of the asylum acquis which the UK was likely to continue
to participate in, notably the draft 'Dublin III' Regulation establishing
the criteria for determining which Member State is responsible
for an asylum application. In light of this concern, we decided
to hold the draft Directive under scrutiny and requested progress
reports on the negotiations.
20.5 Subsequent progress reports in December 2011 and May
2012 highlighted three areas of contention in the negotiations.
First, Member States generally opposed the Commission's proposal
to allow asylum seekers access to the labour market after six
months. A compromise has now been reached on nine months. Second,
Member States resisted the Commission's attempt to require them
to "duly justify" a decision to provide less favourable
social assistance for asylum seekers than would be the case for
their own nationals. A compromise text allows some degree of
differentiation, provided that the assistance provided is sufficient
to ensure an adequate standard of living for asylum seekers.
Third, the Government feared that provisions on the detention
of asylum seekers would limit the ability of the UK Border Agency
to operate its Detained Fast Track system. This risk has been
averted by ensuring that the provisions of the draft Reception
Conditions Directive providing guarantees for detained asylum
seekers are not automatically copied across to the draft Dublin
III Regulation.
THE MINISTER'S
LETTER OF
19 OCTOBER 2012
20.6 The Minister for Immigration (Mark Harper) informs us
that the Presidency intends to reach a political agreement on
the draft Reception Conditions Directive at the Justice and Home
Affairs Council on 25 October. He continues:
"In his letter of 28 May, my predecessor as
Immigration Minister informed you that the compromise text agreed
by the Committee of Permanent Representatives on 21 March achieved
our key objective of ensuring that guarantees for detained asylum
seekers were not copied across to the Dublin (III) Regulation
proposal, in which the UK will be participating. I am pleased
to inform you that this remains the case in the final compromise
text upon which the JHA Council will vote next week.
"The letter also stated that we would aim to
ensure that trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament
did not result in the proposal being amended so that safeguards
on detention practices (Article 9) were inconsistent with our
own procedures. This would avoid an unwanted precedent being
set as it is possible that the provisions could later be linked
to a legislative measure to which the UK has opted in. Again,
I am happy to report that we are satisfied that the agreed position
will not cause a problem for UKBA's detention procedures.
"Finally, I can also inform you that the Recitals
in the compromise proposal make it expressly clear that the UK
will not be taking part in the measure and that it will therefore
not be bound by it.
"The UK has not opted in to this proposal and
therefore will not be entitled to vote at the JHA Council, however,
as your Committee has not cleared this file from scrutiny, I write
to inform you of events in advance."
CONCLUSION
20.7 We thank the Minister for providing a further
progress report in advance of the Justice and Home Affairs Council.
Although the UK has not opted into the draft Directive, and will
not therefore participate in its adoption, we note that the Government
is satisfied with the outcome of negotiations, and we are content
to clear the proposal from scrutiny.
82 See (30701) 11060/09: HC 19-xxiii (2008-09), chapter
1 (8 July 2009) and Council document 17024/09. Back
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