The committee adopted the report originally drawn up by Ingo SCHMITT (EPP-ED, D) amending the proposal under the consultation procedure. After a very close vote, the committee rejected most of the amendments that Mr Schmitt had tabled in his report, whereupon he withdrew his name as rapporteur. The report would therefore be submitted to plenary under the name of the committee chairman, Graham WATSON (ELDR, UK).
The committee adopted a very large number of amendments (around 140). Some of these sought to ensure that Member States adhered to the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights or to reinforce Member States· rights to apply more generous rules. Others related to improved access to the asylum procedure, better legal and other assistance for asylum seekers during the procedure, the provision of information to applicants, the suspensive effect of appeals, limiting the grounds for detention, stricter criteria for the designation of safe countries, reducing grounds on which applications for asylum may be determined as manifestly unfounded and reducing some of the time-limits.�