Brussels will propose to centralise asylum requests in the European Union, which faces its worst migration crisis since the Second World War, reveals the Sunday edition of the Financial Times. The European Commission will make this proposal as part of a radical overhaul of its policy on refugees, which will be set out during a summit of EU leaders on March 17th, the newspaper indicates, quoting an outline of the reform plan.
“The reform plans consulted by the Financial Times state that responsibility for all asylum requests will be transferred to the European Asylum Support Office,” a European agency. So says the British newspaper.
At the current time, asylum seekers should make their application request in the first EU country to which they arrive, a rule which was undermined last year by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who decided not to apply it.
This report was disclosed on the eve of a summit of European leaders in Brussels, at which the migration crisis will be discussed. This saw 1.2 million asylum seekers fleeing the war in Syria and the Middle East, Asia and Africa by seeking asylum in member states of the EU in 2015.
Previous attempts to allocate refugees across members states in the EU failed owing to objections from particular countries.
(Source: Belga)
