Dublin Convention (Hansard, 8 June 2000)

§ Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on the Commission Working Paper, "Revisiting the Dublin Convention". [125048]

§ Mrs. Roche
The European Commission has produced a working paper entitled "Revisiting the Dublin Convention". This seeks to initiate debate on the Dublin Convention as the first step towards developing Community legislation for determining which member state is responsible for considering an application for asylum submitted in one of the member states, as required by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Government's view of this document can be found in the Home Office Explanatory Memorandum dated 10 May, a copy of which is in the Library.

§ Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library copies of the quarterly statistics on the Dublin Convention exchanged between member states under the terms of decision 1/97. [125047]

§ Mrs. Roche
I have arranged for copies of these latest statistics to be placed in the Library.
379W

§ Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if it is the Government's policy to seek to replace the Dublin Convention with a system which allocates responsibility for an asylum applicant to the last known transit country within the EU. [125045]

§ Mrs. Roche
The Treaty of Amsterdam requires that a Community instrument must replace the Dublin Convention by May 2004. The Commission has already presented a working document entitled "Revisiting the Dublin Convention" to the Justice and Home Affairs Council Meeting held in Brussels on 27 March.
380W
The next step in the process will be the circulation of a Commission questionnaire to evaluate the operation of the Dublin Convention as it stands. The Government see evaluation as central to the development of a new draft measure. We must build on the results of the forthcoming evaluation to ensure the development of a more robust and efficient new mechanism in this field. At this preliminary stage, however, the Government consider that the underlying premise of the Dublin Convention (that the State responsible for an applicant's entry into European Union territory is responsible for the determination of any resulting asylum claim) provides a proper model for any future measure.