A common European asylum system

Asylum is granted to people fleeing persecution or serious harm. Asylum is a fundamental right; granting it is an international obligation under the 1951 Geneva Convention on the protection of refugees. In an area of open borders and freedom of movement, we have to have a joint approach to asylum across the EU. Asylum flows are not constant, nor are they evenly distributed across the EU. They have, for example, varied from a peak of 425 000 applications for the EU-27 in 2001 down to under 200 000 in 2006. In 2012, there were over 330 000. Asylum must not be a lottery. EU Member States have a shared responsibility to welcome asylum seekers in a dignified manner, ensuring they are treated fairly and that their case is examined to uniform standards so that, no matter where an applicant applies, the outcome will be similar