mr president the asylum procedures directive is an essential element of the common european asylum system
it is the aim of the commission to establish a system that is balanced fair efficient and cost-effective
financial impact is a critical aspect of every commission proposal and is assessed thoroughly
the commission carried out extensive research at the time of the preparation of the asylum procedures directive proposal in line with the requirements on impact assessment
the evaluation of financial impact was mainly based on statistical information and data obtained from member states through the comprehensive questionnaires sent out by the commission
only a few member states could identify the full cost of asylum procedures
others provided certain elements mainly on the costs of legal assistance and interpretation
the commission assessed financial implications on the basis of the available information
the commission concluded that given the aim of reducing costs an approach based on front-loading was to be preferred i
investing resources in the early stages of the asylum procedure in order to make it faster more efficient and fairer
additional investments in the first-instance procedure improve the efficiency of the asylum process
such investments are offset due to savings at the appeal stages and a reduction in overall reception costs
the choice of this approach was fully supported by the findings of a recent project in the uk the so-called solihull pilot presented at the ministerial conference on asylum in twenty ten
this project confirmed the hypothesis that front-loading the asylum process in particular by providing access to competent legal advice for asylum applicants at the start of the procedure and allowing the legal representative to interact with the decision maker leads to significant improvements in the quality of first-instance decisions
it resulted in much quicker decisions and a higher percentage of positive decisions at first instance fewer appeals and a higher percentage of removals to countries of origin
it was possible to reduce considerably expenditure on appeals and on accommodation and welfare
these savings considerably outweighed the additional legal aid costs
i would also like to remind you of the recent study prepared by the european parliament on burden sharing between member states for the reception of asylum seekers which provides an analysis of costs of asylum procedures and reception including legal aid
to conclude the commission has paid considerable attention to the cost element as part of the impact assessment
the findings have been confirmed by empirical evidence and the information has been complemented by the european parliament study
therefore the commission does not intend to prepare another study on costs
however during the next stages of the negotiations on the asylum procedures directive the commission will continue to be attentive to the cost aspects
