Challenges Facing Asylum System and Asylum Policy Development in Europe: Preliminary Lessons Learned from the Central European and Baltic States (CEBS)

Abstract

This article summarizes the difficulties faced by the European Union accession driven asylum system development process, known as Phare Horizontal Asylum (PHA) programme, and its key component, the Round Table process, and reflects upon some preliminary results. The EU accession process for the Central European and Baltic States (CEBS) consists of a thirty‐one chapter ‘Screening Report’, as well as a series of negotiations and assistance programmes; Chapter 24 of the Report deals with asylum. The main assistance element, the ‘Phare’ programme, was originally established in 1990 as the Poland‐Hungary Assistance for the Reconstruction of the Economy programme. It has since been extended to the ten CEBS. European asylum system development is a two‐pronged process, with EU Member States engaging in harmonization activities and CEBS engaging in accession preparations. This article also discusses some of the issues and problems arising in the context of PHA, and evaluates the Round Table process in the context of EU accession and asylum system development in the CEBS. The author aims to share lessons learned from the PHA and Round Table process for a future exchange of best practice towards the development of improved European asylum system development activities.