The case of asylum in France
The European Union is an area of protection for people fleeing persecution or serious harm in their country of origin.
Asylum is a fundamental right and an international obligation for countries, as recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the protection of refugees.
In the EU, an area of open borders and freedom of movement, member countries share the same fundamental values and joint approach to guarantee high standards of protection for refugees.
EU countries have a shared responsibility to welcome asylum seekers in a dignified manner, ensuring that they are treated fairly and their case is examined following uniform standards. This ensures that, no matter where an applicant applies, the outcome will be similar. Procedures must be fair, effective throughout the EU, and impervious to abuse.
However, asylum flows are not constant, nor are they evenly distributed across the EU. They have, for example, variated from over 1.8 million in 2015 to around 142,000 in 2019, a decrease of 92%.
With this in mind, since 1999, the EU has established a Common European Asylum System (CEAS). In 2020, the European Commission proposed to reform the system through a comprehensive approach to migration and asylum policy based on three main pillars:
efficient asylum and return procedures,
solidarity and fair share of responsibility and
strengthened partnerships with third countries.
Legislation and agency support
The Common European Asylum System sets out common standards and co-operation to ensure that asylum seekers
are treated equally in an open and fair system – wherever they apply. The system is governed by five legislative instruments and one agency:
The Asylum Procedures DirectiveEN•••aims at setting out the conditions for fair, quick and quality asylum decisions. Asylum seekers with special needs receive the necessary support to explain their claim and in particular protection of unaccompanied minors and victims of torture is ensured.
How long will asylum take?
A decision should be made on your asylum application within 180 days after the date you filed your application unless there are exceptional circumstances.What country in Europe accepted the most asylum seekers?
Main countries of destination – Germany, France, Spain and Austria. With 217 735 applicants registered in 2022, Germany accounted for 24.7 % of all first-time asylum applicants in the EU. It was followed by France (137 510, or 15.6 %), Spain (116 135, or 13.2 %) and Austria (106 380, or 12.1 %).What country in Europe accepted the most asylum seekers?
How do you get approved for asylum? How much money do asylum seekers get in Italy? Which country accepts most asylum? Is Germany good for asylum seekers? How long will asylum take? How long can I apply for asylum? What is the success rate of asylum? What countries do not accept refugees? What are the top 5 countries for asylum applicants?How much money do asylum seekers get in UK?
How much money do asylum seekers get in France? How much money do refugees get in Switzerland? What are benefits of asylum? How to win an interview for asylum? What happens if asylum is denied?What happens after you get asylum?
The Reception Conditions DirectiveEN••• ensures that common standards for reception conditions (such as housing, food and clothing and access to health care, education or employment under certain conditions) are provided for asylum seekers across the EU to ensure a dignified standard of living in accordance with the Charter of fundamental rights. The Qualification DirectiveEN••• clarifies the grounds for granting international protection and therefore making asylum decisions more robust. It also provides access to rights and integration measures for beneficiaries of international protection. The Dublin RegulationEN••• enhances the protection of asylum seekers during the process of establishing the State responsible for examining the application, and clarifies the rules governing the relations between states. It creates a system to detect early problems in national asylum or reception systems and address their root causes before they develop into fully fledged crises. The EURODAC RegulationEN••• supports the determination of the Member State responsible under the Dublin Regulation and allows law enforcement authorities access to the EU database of the fingerprints of asylum seekers under strictly limited circumstances in order to prevent, detect or investigate the most serious crimes, such as murder, and terrorism.
The European Union Agency for Asylum contributes to improving the functioning and implementation of the Common European Asylum System.
It provides operational and technical assistance to Member States in the assessment of applications for international protection across Europe.
