[autom.vertaling] Van het asiel en van de migratie de agenda van hoogste EU- ministers (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Controversial proposals to draw up common rules between EU states on granting asylum will be discussed tomorrow by EU home affairs ministers in Brussels.

The plan is to draw up an EU list of "safe third countries", where an asylum seeker could be returned to a country where he or she has claimed asylum or travelled through before arriving in an EU country.

However, there is no broad agreement between EU states over this issue, with Austria the only one heavily supporting the plan.

The United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, expressed concerns over this plan last month.

It is worried that asylum seekers could be sent back to non-EU countries without any guarantee that their asylum claim will be properly dealt with there.

It also voiced concern about another plan - agreed by EU ministers last month - to set up an EU list of "safe countries of origin", whereby asylum would be denied to applicants coming from countries on that list.

These lists form part of the asylum procedures directive, which have been discussed for years by EU ministers.

Readmission agreements

Another issue on the agenda is the state of play as regards readmission agreements with non-EU countries.

As these negotiations have been dragging on, EU ministers will be discussing measures to provide incentives to third countries to sign up to such agreements and take back their nationals.

Deadline looms on European Arrest Warrant

During tomorrow's meeting, Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino will also brief the EU ministers on the state of play regarding the implementation of the European Arrest Warrant.

As the deadline of January 2004 for its entry into force looms, the Commission is concerned about the delays in adoption of the necessary measures by the majority of EU states.

The warrent is designed to stop the risk of criminals moving freely around the EU as law enforcers deal with extradition rules every time a suspect moves from one EU state to another.