The Council agreed on a general approach regarding the amended proposal for a Council Directive on minimum standards for granting and withdrawing refugee status. The text of the draft Directive will be forwarded to the European Parliament for reconsultation before being adopted by the Council.
The purpose of the Directive is to set out equivalent procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status. It includes:
- basic principles and guarantees in relation to the asylum process (e.g. access to the asylum process, right to interview, access to interpretation, access to legal representation and detention);
- procedures at first instance (e.g. provision for an examination procedure, criteria for prioritisation and acceleration of applications, safe country of origin principles, border procedures); and
- appeal procedures.
The Council also decided to postpone the establishment of a common list of safe countries of origin until after the adoption of the Directive, on the basis that, at present, it is not possible to reach agreement on such a list."