Mr President, I have the honour to have my name attached to this report but most of the work has been done by my Christian Democrat colleague, Mr Ingo Schmitt, who took this report through committee. Due to the result of the vote, he chose not to pursue it by introducing it in plenary and I am doing so on behalf of my committee. The Commission has proposed a Council directive on minimum standards for procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status. The Commission has come forward with proposals for a number of rules on the handling of asylum applications. This is very much a first step towards the common asylum system which the Commission has proposed and which this House has on many occasions supported. These rules cover reception and detention facilities, the content of refugee status and the application process. They designate time limits for applications and appeals and they introduce specific rules for dealing with inadmissible cases. It is my honour to present on behalf of the committee a number of amendments to these proposals. We recognise that these amendments are not binding but we hope that they will be considered carefully and taken on board in policy formulation. Our amendments seek to clarify and strengthen the position of asylum seekers. We aim to ensure due respect for the Geneva Convention and its protocols and for the European Convention on Human Rights when dealing with applications for asylum. We aim to secure for asylum seekers the right to remain on the territory of a Member State until their appeal has been decided. We recommend special attention be paid to the cases of applications from women and children who have been particularly vulnerable to abuse and attack in the countries from which they flee. We seek to improve access to legal assistance for those seeking asylum and to emphasise that asylum seekers should not be sent back to places where their lives might be in danger. As a general rule, we reject or resist the practice of holding asylum seekers in detention centres. I for one welcome the recent United Kingdom court ruling against the UK government's practice of locking asylum seekers in detention centres, however modern those centres may be. We believe that asylum seekers who are often escaping persecution of the worst kind in their homelands have the right to be treated with dignity when they reach our shores. We understand the pressures on Member States but we reject the creeping tendency we see towards a dilution of the rights of asylum seekers. We believe that the determination of refugee status must remain a legal matter and not a matter of politics or one of political expediency. The health of a society is judged not only by its practices but also by the direction in which its face is set and my committee believes that the Commission's policy is taking us in the right direction even if we seek greater clarity in the rights of some of those to whom it is directed. It is not only a question of our legal and humanitarian obligations but also a question of economic and administrative common sense. The more asylum seekers that a government rejects – perhaps in the hope of courting short-term popular support of the basest nature – the more appeals it will face, the more it will be tied down in lengthy processes which will hit the taxpayer in the pocket. Our amendments seek to ensure not only administrative efficiency but also a humanitarian approach to the position of those on our planet who deserve our support and protection. I hope the House will follow the line that has been put forward by the committee in this report.

Political group: ELDR