Restricting European Union citizens' access to asylum

Written Question No. 374

Doc. 7853

26 June 1997

by Mr Erik Jurgens

Mr JURGENS,

In view of Committee of Ministers Resolution (67)14 which recommends that member governments "should act in a particularly liberal and humanitarian spirit in relation to persons who seek asylum on their territory",

To ask the Committee of Ministers,

Whether it considers the European Union decision, taken last week at the Amsterdam Summit, to restrict European Union citizens' access to asylum a retrograde step and indeed contrary to the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees which guarantees unqualified access to asylum.

Signed:

Jurgens, Netherlands, SOC