Ministerial conference "Building a Europe of Asylum" extended to civil society.
Group photo
© Nicolas Jourand, Ministerium für Immigration
- from: 08.09.2008
- to: 09.09.2008
- In: Paris, Centre de conférences internationales Kléber
Entitled "Building a Europe of Asylum" in reference to section IV of the draft European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, the aim of this conference is to lay the foundations of the second phase of the Common European Asylum System. This conference is being held in the context of the extension of The Hague Programme of 2004 and the work on the draft European Pact on Immigration and Asylum. This work will also build on the action plan on asylum issues presented by the European Commission on 17 June 2008.
On Monday 8 September, the morning session will consist of addresses from a number of European ministers and key figures in the field of asylum followed by three round tables. The round tables will be moderated by representatives from the Member States, non-governmental organisations, international organisations and other experts and will focus on the following:
1) Practical co-operation: summary and outlook
There is already practical co-operation in the area of asylum between groups of experts, contact committees, subject groups and work carried out by the network of European Administrations dealing with asylum-related matters.
The planned European Support Office will facilitate the enhancement and coordination of these initiatives. The Council decided to create this in the conclusions it adopted on 18 April last. The Commission will present a legislative proposal to create the support office in the near future.
Debate will focus on the means of creating this support office, the tasks it should be assigned and the form it should take.
2) The treatment of requests for asylum from outside the EU and development of co-operation with non-EU countries
This round table will facilitate the discussion of:
- the means for asylum-seekers to access the systems of protection set up by the Member States. In its action plan, the Commission recommends that the EU take measures to allow a better management of arrivals within the territory of people seeking asylum.
- the avenues of work that would allow the European Union to lend support to non-EU countries to put them in a position to offer sustainable protection solutions to refugees by developing reintegration and regional protection programmes.
3) The planned Common European Asylum System.
This round table will focus on discussing proposals presented by the Commission in the action plan it distributed on 17 June 2008 and the proposals of Chapter IV of the draft European Pact on Immigration and Asylum.
The morning of 9 September will be dedicated to a work meeting of the ministers on point IV of the Pact, preceded by a brief summary of the work carried out on the previous day in the round tables and followed by a press conference.
- Updated: 06.11.2008
