European Agreement on the Transfer of Responsibility for Refugees
The European Agreement on the Transfer of Responsibility for Refugees, also known as the Dublin Regulation, is an agreement between European Union member states and countries that are members of the European Economic Area. The regulation governs the responsibilities of EU member states when it comes to the processing and handling of asylum applications.
The Dublin Regulation was first introduced in 1997 and has since undergone several revisions. Its main purpose is to ensure that asylum seekers have their claims for refugee status processed by one country, rather than multiple countries. The regulation requires that the member state in which an asylum seeker first enters the EU is responsible for processing their claim.
The Dublin Regulation also establishes criteria for determining which member state is responsible for processing an asylum claim. These criteria include factors such as family ties, previous asylum applications, and the state in which the asylum seeker has resided in for the longest period.
However, the Dublin Regulation has come under scrutiny in recent years, with many critics arguing that it places an undue burden on member states that are located on the EU’s external borders. Countries such as Italy, Greece, and Spain have been particularly hard hit, as they are often the first point of entry for asylum seekers arriving in the EU.
In 2015, amid a surge in the number of asylum applications, the EU introduced a temporary relocation plan to ease the burden on these countries. The plan was put in place to redistribute asylum seekers more evenly across the EU, but it was met with resistance from some member states.
In 2017, the EU proposed a reform of the Dublin Regulation, which aimed to provide a more equitable distribution of asylum seekers across all member states. However, negotiations on the reform have stalled, with some member states pushing back against the proposed changes.
The issue of responsibility for refugees remains a contentious one in the EU. While the Dublin Regulation has been successful in establishing a framework for processing asylum claims, it has also highlighted the need for greater solidarity among member states when it comes to caring for refugees and asylum seekers.