Asylum Policy In Europe – The Competences of the European Union and Inefficiency of the Dublin System

Abstract:

This article demonstrates how the transfer of competences in asylum policy from Member States to the European Union, although guided by the objective of improving and harmonising diverse standards, has not resulted in a satisfactory level of refugee protection. The claim is, on the contrary, that it has resulted in an uneven sharing of responsibilities for asylum seekers between Member States and an overall deterioration in the guarantees of fundamental rights in EU asylum-granting procedures. The article analyses the Dublin II Regulation (establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining asylum applications), which by failing to provide an effective mechanism for responsibility allocation has made the entire asylum system in the European Union dysfunctional and of questionable conformity with the Geneva Convention of 1951 and other international standards of protection. The fi nal part of the article examines the new Commission proposal for amendments and improvements to the current Regulation and shows how the Union has once again missed the chance to create a more effi cient and balanced responsibility-sharing system which would consequently provide better protection to asylum seekers and thus better fulfi ll the objectives of the Geneva Convention.