The government proposal of the new asylum act in large measure preserves the existing arrangements of the procedures for international protection, and it strengthens standards for vulnerable categories, and unaccompanied minors, in compliance with the amended EU legislation. It also includes mechanisms for prevention of abuse of the system of international protection, among other things it allows the authorities to carry out asylum procedures on the border, and it abolishes one-time financial aid, explained Andrej Špenga, State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior.
He added that the level of rights of asylum seekers would not change, but the level of rights would be diminished where they exceed minimal European standards. The opposition is divided - one part protesting the shrinking of rights, the other demanding stricter measures.
The committee presented with a number of amendments; will EU permit them all?
Approximately 80 proposals for amendments were filed. Besides the cases in which the request for international protection would be inadmissible, the members of the committee added the case in which the asylum seeker obviously entered Slovenia from another EU member state. The parliamentary Legislative and Legal Service warned of the possibility of a conflict with the European legal framework which does not foresee such cases.
An amendment was accepted which defines that at establishing the conditions for asylum it must be considered also whether the actions of the applicant since leaving the country of origin had had exclusively, or with principal intention, the purpose of creating the necessary conditions for international protection (it is probably meant that they had broken no laws), and whether it can be expected from the asylum seeker to take advantage of the protection of another country, where he/she could exercise citizenship. According to this amendment the explanation of the asylum seeker regarding his/her reasons for seeking asylum at the occasion of filing the request for asylum would be taken into account as a personal interview; representatives of some non-governmental organisations were opposed.
The coalition parties did listen to some proposals from non-governmental organisations. The initially proposed time limit of three days for filing a complaint against decisions issued in accelerated procedures was amended to eight days. The United Left (ZL) Party had proposed an even longer time limit, and prolongation of the time limit for filing a complaint against decisions issued in regular procedures, but the majority of the members of the committee did not support their proposal.
Regarding unaccompanied minors with granted international protection a provision was included, on the initiative of the coalition, that, as a rule, siblings are not to be separated, and that seeking of the unaccompanied minor's family members must start immediately after the status of international protection has been granted, had it not started before.
Asylum quotas
The opposition proposals revolved also around the highest permissible numbers of requests for asylum, forfeiture of property to asylum seeker (exceeding the value of 750 euros), reducing the circle of persons considered as family members of the applicant for international protection. The majority also rejected the proposal of amendments by which asylum seekers would be assured information regarding their procedures, assistance of an interpreter, and free legal aid, as well as right to allowance.