The adopted agreement, as reported by Deutsche Welle, put an end to the dispute among EU member states over who and when is 'responsible' for refugees — that is, among other things, bears the corresponding costs. According to reports from Brussels, the compromise reached stipulates that during the first twelve months after the applicant's entry into EU territory, responsibility for them lies with the country where they initially crossed the EU border. If the applicant did not stay in that country but moved to another, the authorities of the latter must handle them if they have been there for at least five months.
According to the European Commission, other criteria will also be used in exceptional cases to establish responsibility for processing asylum applications. For example, an applicant may expect their application to be accepted in a country where refugee status has already been granted to a close relative. This is of particular interest to Greece and Italy — countries through whose coastal borders the majority of refugees enter EU territory. Many of them then move on to other EU states, mainly Germany and the United Kingdom.
To determine the country through which an applicant entered EU territory, a system called Eurodac will be introduced in the EU. This is a database of fingerprints of asylum seekers entering the EU. Eurodac is scheduled to be operational on January 15, 2003.
The new rules establish minimum common standards for the living conditions of refugees in EU states. In particular, in all EU countries they must have equal rights to social security and medical care. Regarding providing work to refugees, EU member states will continue to act autonomously from each other — Germany insisted on this, as under German law these issues are decided at the level of the federal states.
According to the European Commission, the new agreement has advantages over the currently effective Dublin Convention of the EU — it will speed up the processing of asylum applications and facilitate the reunification of refugee families.
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