00:00Dr. Ruvie Ziegler is Associate Professor in International Refugee Law at the University of Reading.
00:06This has been long in the offing and in fact was adopted about two years ago by the Parliament and
00:12the Council.
00:13And it's now coming into effect and part of that delay was to get the Member States ready for the
00:19implementation.
00:19We might talk about whether that has happened.
00:23Ultimately, this is significant because there is an attempt here to try and harmonize policies much more across the European
00:32Union
00:32by having regulations which are directly applicable in the Member States
00:37and also by quite significant changes to things such as screening at the border and return hubs,
00:44which, in my view and in the view of many organisations, are actually going to harm prospects of access to
00:52asylum
00:53in the European Union and fundamental rights guarantees.
00:56The system is supposed to help with pooling data to share the burden, if I can put it like that,
01:03more fairly
01:04among EU member states and provide overall immigration deterrence.
01:09It's a two-year transition phase, I think.
01:13I mean, just how prepared is Europe to deal with this?
01:19Right, so I think, sadly, the answer is not very well.
01:24For instance, one of the ways in which there is an attempt to ensure that standards are harmonized across the
01:32Member States
01:32is that Member States are supposed to establish independent monitoring mechanisms
01:38that will ensure that, for instance, the screening at the border is done in a proper way.
01:43But that hasn't happened in Member States and the resources that Member States need in order to train the relevant
01:52officials
01:53that are now going to have to conduct screening processes, for instance, have not properly been put in place.
01:59And ultimately, the legislation leaves a lot of gaps and that allows for potentially different interpretations by Member States.
02:07And we know politics plays a big role.
02:10We know some Member States are very reluctant to acknowledge their responsibilities around asylum seekers.
02:16So whilst there was a process of preparation, that process hasn't culminated in proper harmonization of standards.
02:26If you're watching you outside Europe, you might be scratching your head.
02:30I mean, according to the common European asylum system, asylum seekers must now undergo this mandatory preliminary screening
02:37at the EU's external borders.
02:40How does that differ from what was previously done?
02:44Well, previously, if somebody had entered the European Union, they would suggest or would tell the Border Patrol or whoever
02:55and they encounter them that they wish to seek for asylum.
02:59And then the asylum processing itself would take place inside the country in orderly ways,
03:05often not leading to individuals being detained, often allowing them access to various services
03:12in the state itself.
03:14What this is intending to do is effectively to make the Border Guards asylum officers, right?
03:21They would have to be undertaking an initial processing process.
03:25And as I've suggested a couple of minutes ago, the insufficient numbers of people have been recruited
03:32and trained to be able to manage these new procedures and indeed to ensure that there are safeguards in place
03:39like vulnerability assessments or health checks are properly enacted.
03:43I've been there for a few minutes ago.
03:44I've been there for a few minutes ago.
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