Until now, requests for political asylum from residents of countries recognized as safe in Europe were not considered by the relevant bodies of EU countries. The court ruled that such practice contradicts the EU's declaration of human rights: even in safe third countries, people may be persecuted for political reasons. So now, as reported by Rosbalt news agency, employees of the interior ministries of EU member states will have to at least accept such requests for consideration and deal with each of them individually.
In addition, the court abolished the rule according to which applicants for political asylum receive an immediate refusal if, on their way to the country where they submitted their application, they passed through the territory of any third country recognized as 'safe' in Europe. Thus, the current practice of shunting asylum seekers to transit countries has been declared illegal.
This decision of the Luxembourg court could indirectly hit Ukraine: a couple of years ago, some European countries, which are the most 'tempting' targets for millions of illegal migrants, tried to reduce the 'demographic pressure' in their deportation camps by concluding an agreement with Ukrainian authorities to build a number of such facilities in Ukraine – naturally, with European money. Huge flows of illegal migrants pass through Ukrainian territory to Europe, and those who received a refusal in the EU were faced with the prospect of ending up in one of these camps, since Ukraine, on the European scale, is considered a safe third country.
Now these plans seem not to be destined to come true: despite the fact that the court's decision is not binding on EU member states, it has the status of an 'urgent directive', and EU states, according to the third Copenhagen criterion, in most cases try to bring their own legislation to a common European standard.
A much less pleasant news for potential emigrants is that in June the European Parliament intends to consider a bill that journalists have already dubbed the 'expulsion law'. According to this document, foreigners who are on EU territory without documents or with fake documents may be detained for up to 18 months before being expelled from the European Union. Moreover, this rule also applies to minors. In addition, illegal migrants expelled from Europe are banned from entering EU countries for five years.
It should be noted that the European Parliament does not have the authority to establish laws in each individual EU country. So, if this bill is adopted, it will not have the force of law. Nevertheless, given the direction of 'battening down the hatches' taken by leading EU countries, it can be assumed that this directive will be implemented quickly and with pleasure. After all, the bill itself is completely copied from the new law on illegal migration recently adopted in the Netherlands: this country, previously considered a 'multicultural paradise', has been the most unfriendly to illegal migrants for several years now.
It is not surprising that several weeks before the possible adoption of the bill, numerous human rights organizations in Europe are protesting against it. Last week, an initiative group gathered in Brussels and handed over to the European Parliament a petition protesting against the 'shameful directive' – it was signed by more than 31,000 people. And the international human rights organization Pro Asul even threatened to file a series of lawsuits in the constitutional courts of EU member states to get this regulation overturned if it is adopted.
Boris ALTNER. 