Alapjogi jogesetek – az Európai Unió Bírósága

Absztrakt

Asylum seekers constitute a group of persons of particular vulnerability, whose protection is guaranteed by both international and EU law. A Common European Asylum System has been set up in order to ensure that all asylum applications are examined by one Member State and that the material needs of asylum seekers are met. The Member States have created this system assuming that all of them observe fundamental rights and more or less the same level of protection will be provided for asylum seekers everywhere in EU. However, Europe, and especially the Mediterranean countries, has been invaded by hundreds of thousands of desperate people, who left their home either to save their life or in the hope of finding a better life in the West. Many of them applied for asylum but it turned out that not only their applications were not always processed as they should have been but also their human dignity was offended in some countries, particularly in Greece. It is therefore not a big surprise that these people subsequently tried to get to other EU countries in an attempt to get recognised there as refugees. Their hope was nevertheless gone when they became aware of the practice of the local authorities, which systematically sent them back to Greece on the grounds of EU norms saying the first EU State an asylum seeker enters is normally the one responsible for handling his case. Asked by British and Irish courts, the Court of Justice decided however that no asylum seeker can be transferred to a Member State where he risks being subject to inhuman treatment. The Court also gave out important rulings on how to determine the Member State responsible for processing an asylum application and on the level of material and financial support to which asylum seekers are entitled under EU law.