The European Commission’s proposals for directives to establish a common European asylum system: the challenges of accession and the dangers of negative integration

Abstract:

The European Union has resolved to create a Common Asylum System throughout Europe, to achieve integration of rules about asylum matters across Member States. This article focuses on three Commission proposals for minimum standards in the asylum field and uses the theme of positive and negative integration, as described by Steve Peers to analyse the Commission's proposals. This article takes as its starting point the legal obligations that Member States have towards refugees. It then examines how the three Commission proposals preserve these obligations within the European framework. The article argues that using the tools of negative legal integration as the means of identifying the people who need international protection will not work, and could lead to Member States returning people to persecution, in contravention of their obligations under international law. The article then describes some of the challenges which the accession of applicant countries will present to the process of achieving a common European asylum system.