European Commission Adopts Infringement Decisions to Toughen Asylum Rules

The European Commission escalated Thursday eight infringement proceedings against Greece, Croatia, Italy, Malta and Hungary for failing to fully transpose and implement the Common European Asylum System, the commission said in a statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The decision follows sending 40 infringement notices to 19 EU member states by the Commission in September in addition to the 34 already pending cases.

According to the statement, the Commission sent Letters of Formal Notice urging Greece, Croatia and Italy to correctly implement the Eurodac Regulation ensuring fingerprinting of asylum seekers and transmission of data to the central system within 72 hours.

Besides, the Commission addressed "Reasoned Opinions" to Greece and Malta urging them to communicate the measures taken to fully transpose the Asylum Procedures Directive stipulating procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection, and the Reception Conditions Directive dealing with access to reception conditions for asylum seekers waiting for examination of applications.

"Reasoned opinions" and letters of formal notice oblige the countries to take appropriate measures to address violations documented by the Commission. In the absence of satisfactory reply the Commission could impose financial sanctions on those member states that do not comply.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Over 1.2 million illegal border crossings have been detected by the EU border agency Frontex since the beginning of 2015.