Cyprus doet mee aan gesprekken gemeenschappelijk Europees asielstelsel (en)

On the morning of the December 7, Cyprus’ Minister of Interior, Ms Eleni Mavrou i, will participate in a high level discussion organised by the European Policy Centre (EPC) entitled: “The Common European Asylum System: Successfully achieved?”. A series of distinguished speakers will be asked to present their views on the completion - or expected completion- of the Common European Asylum System, its significance, as well as the challenges remaining for Europe with regard to the question of asylum and asylum policy.

Ms Mavrou will be speaking on the panel, along with Ms Cecilia Malmström i, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ms Monika Hohlmeier i, Member of the European Parliament, and Ms Madeline Garlick, Bureau For Europe of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The panel debate will be followed by a question and answer session chaired by EPC Senior Policy Analyst Yves Pascouau.

After the Amsterdam Treaty came into force, the Tampere conclusions set the objective to establish a Common European Asylum System (CEAS). Between 2001 and 2005 a set of rules were adopted with the view to establish the first step on the route to the CEAS.

A second ‘package’ of rules has been further presented in order to reach the final objective meant to be achieved by the end of 2012. While progress has been made regarding certain proposals (the ‘Qualification Directive’ has been adopted and political agreement has been achieved for the Dublin Regulation and the Reception Conditions Directive), the negotiation process has proven to be more lengthy and tricky than expected.

The EPC, together with the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU have organised this high level discussion so as to bring together all the key stakeholders for an in depth discussion on what has been achieved so far, what is still likely to be achieved as well as future developments, including the role of the European Courts.