Timothy Speaks Out On ECJ Ruling On Asylum Seekers
Brussels -- Wednesday 21st December
ECJ ruling on asylum seeker returns: time to get tough with Greece!
The European Court of Justice's (ECJ) ruling today that the UK cannot return asylum seekers to Greece owing to its inadequate asylum system should act as a wake up call to the European Commission to come down on Greece's failure to live up to its obligations.
Under the so-called Dublin Regulation, asylum seekers should seek refuge in the first safe country in which they arrive. If he or she continues on to another EU country, its authorities have the right to return them to the first country. However, the ECJ has confirmed that returns made to Greece could lead to applicants' fundamental rights under Article 4 of the Charter being breached, because Greece has an overloaded and inadequate processing system in place.
The UK and a number of other Western European countries have already suspended their returns to Greece in anticipation of this ruling, and following a similar ruling (MSS v. Belgium and Greece) in the European Court of Human Rights in January 2011.
As a UK immigration minister in the 1990s, this matter is of particular interest to me and it is clear that it is now time for the Commission to take action against Greece for failing to apply basic standards expected of a European country.
I made the following points:
"Of course it is not right that genuine asylum seekers are returned to a country where they face further persecution. However, there is also now a clear incentive for people with other motives to enter the EU via Greece, safe in the knowledge that other countries are powerless to return them. Furthermore, they also now know that under article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights they have the right to a family life, so they can also bring their families with them.
"If the UK or France had such inadequate systems and poor asylum conditions as Greece then I have no doubt the European Commission would come down on us like a ton of bricks.
"This ruling was expected but it is still extremely frustrating. Western European countries are not trying to return people to some African dictatorship, but to another EU member state where respect for their basic human rights should be a given.
"The EU needs to continue to assist Greece in dealing with the significant pressures it faces, but it should also back up its carrot with a stick to push Greece into ending the current unacceptable state of affairs.
"This is another case of how well-intentioned human rights law is being interpreted to the detriment of those countries that play by the rules, such as the UK, whilst allowing countries that fail to meet their obligations to see little consequence. It is simply not fair."
