Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
The Chair
To the Chairperson(s) of the committee(s) concerned
Honourable Chairperson,
The reform of the Union acquis on asylum, is currently under way by means of eight
Commission proposals amending existing or establishing new legislative instruments.
While the reform has been triggered by the large influx of asylum seekers and migrants
last year, it also aims at further developing the Common European Asylum System as
set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. For all those reasons,
the reform is crucial. Relevant work has already started within the Committee on Civil
Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), as responsible Committee on all these files,
with key decisions planned to be taken during spring 2017.
Against this background, the LIBE Committee would like to invite Members of national
Parliaments to an Interparliamentary Committee Meeting on "The Third Reform of the
Common European Asylum System - Up for the Challenge". Indeed, the success of
restructuring the Common European Asylum System and standing up to the relevant
challenges, requires the participation of the Union and national legislators at all levels,
from the conception through to the implementation stage.
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 28 February 2017 from 09h00 to 18h30 in the
European Parliament in Brussels (please see the draft programme attached - Annex I).
I am therefore pleased to invite up to four Members of the relevant committee(s) from
each national Parliament (two from each Chamber in the case of bi-cameral
Parliaments) to attend this meeting.
Key issues such as a fair distribution of asylum seekers among Member States, the
concepts of safe country of origin and safe third country, combatting human trafficking
and protecting children in migration, will be on the agenda of the day. National
authorities, academics and civil society active in the field will be present to provide
expert input for the relevant discussions.
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