Asylum seeker status does not
give refugees the right to free circulation or to choose where
to reside, the first vice president of the European Commission
said Wednesday. A packet of reforms to EU asylum seeker
regulations will include "sanctions against secondary movements"
by refugees who have been granted protected status in one EU-28
country and who move to another Union country, Frans Timmermans
said. Anyone moving away from the country where they have been
granted protected status will be taken back to their host
country, and will risk losing that status, Timmermans said. The
EC official also said the current system doesn't work and must
be reformed because the refugee crisis "is destined to remain
long-term". The Commission has presented two reform options -
one a "Dublin plus" and the other "a more innovative" reform,
Timmermans said. Both options include "more harmonization" of
the rules and a redistribution of the burden. There would also
be reforms to legal immigration rules to "attract skills",
Timmermans said.
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