EU Asylum Agency needs to be bolstered to reflect reality of situation on the ground

AVRUPA TIMES/LONDON-The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs department today voted in favour a report calling for more human and financial resources to be given to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO).S&D Group co-ordinator for the report Péter Niedermüller said:“With the ongoing refugee crisis, more and more tasks have been given to the EU bodies working on implementing asylum policy. The majority of this responsibility has fallen on the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). If we are serious about getting to grips with the current situation we need to also EASO the means to fulfil its new responsibilities. The Parliament has today backed our call to increase the number of EASO staff by 500 by the end of 2020 alongside an increase in the EASO budget of €114 million.”

“This increased budget should go hand in hand with an expanded role for the Agency – to ensure the efficient and uniform application of Union asylum law in all Member States. It must also play an increased operational role – providing technical support to Member States for the management of asylum and reception systems. We also want to see a clearer monitoring mechanism, so that if a Member State fails to comply with the Agency’s rules and threatens the functioning of the Common European Asylum System – corrective measures can be applied quickly and effectively by the European Commission.

“The Parliament has done its job, the European Council must now act with the same urgency and ensure that EASO has the resources and remit it needs to do its job.”