On Wednesday, the Civil Liberties Committee endorsed changes that would update the "Dublin" regulation, which lays down criteria for determining which member state is responsible for examining an application for international protection.

Parliament's rapporteur Cecilia Wikström (ALDE, SE), following the Civil Liberties Committee's political endorsement, said: "we are creating a new regulatory framework that provides stronger legal guarantees for individual refugees and clear rules for member states to live up to. We have agreed on the most difficult issues, such as definition of 'family', the rights of unaccompanied minors and clearer rules and time limits on locked detention for refugees. The aim is to create a humane asylum system by the end of the year".

Dublin transfers and fundamental rights

Parliament's representatives inserted a provision that would make it impossible to transfer asylum seekers to member states where "there are systemic flaws in the asylum procedure and reception conditions (...) resulting in risk of inhuman or degrading treatment". This is in line with recent rulings by the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.

Next steps

The draft regulation was approved with 41 votes in favour, 5 against and 10 abstentions. The Cyprus Presidency is negotiating within the Council the remaining pending issues. Member States will have to endorse the agreed text, which would then come back to Parliament. The final text is expected to be voted in plenary by the end of the year. The Dublin II regulation is one of the five acts forming the backbone of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).

More on this news, including early-warning mechanism, detention or appeal related issues, in the European Parliament Pressroom.