EU: EU justice and home affairs ministers have agreed common rules for dealing with asylum-seekers that will guarantee legal assistance and the right to appeal but will mean that unsuccessful applicants can be sent back to transit countries considered safe.
The deal came two days before a deadline imposed five years ago, and the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, who chaired yesterday's meeting in Luxembourg, said it provided the "missing element" in a common EU asylum programme.
"The agreement achieved on this directive is of immense importance," the Minister said.
"Coupled with the Asylum Qualification Directive, which was adopted today, we have now put in place the final two cornerstones of a common EU asylum system as envisaged by the Tampere European Council and in keeping with the time limits set by Amsterdam Treaty."
The directive establishes the criteria for allowing an applicant to enter the asylum procedure, requirements for the processing of applications and the legal rights of asylum-seekers. It obliges applicants to co-operate with the process and guarantees the right to appeal against an initial rejection, although the details of the appeal process are for national authorities to determine.
The ministers agreed to draw up a list of countries considered safe for asylum-seekers to be repatriated to, but countries that already have such lists will be allowed to retain them.
Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) have criticised the proposed rules, but the Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner, Mr Antonio Vitorino, said they would ensure "a minimum level of protection and procedural safeguards in all member-states for those genuinely in need of international protection".
The number of people seeking asylum in the EU has fallen in recent years, but ministers wanted to agree common rules to discourage asylum-seekers from travelling to countries that offered the most favourable conditions.
"It is an important step to avoid asylum shopping," said the German Interior Minister, Mr Otto Schily.
The ministers also agreed to mutually recognise confiscation orders for the proceeds of crime, one of a number of measures EU leaders called for last month in response to the threat of terrorism.