The Common European Asylum System in Poland; prospects for implementation and legitimacy

Inledning:
"Asylum policy is an issue that meet with great common interest in the European Union of today. One of the matters that are the most hotly debated and criticised is the creation and implementation of a common European asylum policy. The cooperation has the last 10 years grown gradually in importance, and since the Tampere and Hague European Council Summits in 1999 respective 2004 the goal is pronounced; a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and a uniform EU status for those granted asylum is to be evolved and implemented until 2010.
(Presidency Conclusions, Brussels European Council 2004, pp. 4 and 17f). There are two policy phases in the development towards the CEAS. Up until the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force in 1999, the national governments set their own policies on the area. Following the Amsterdam Treaty, policy shifted to a higher level for the first phase of the CEAS that between 1999 and 2004 implied a process of harmonisation where the adoption of EU minimum standards on the asylum process was the aim. Throughout the second phase of the CEAS, formally taken effect on the 1st of May 2004, legislation and policy on asylum is to be harmonised. (European Commission, 2004)

A functional asylum system is crucial for the future welfare of many people. All policy regimes, such as also for example trade policy regimes or agricultural policy regimes, have to function in a satisfactory way in order not to be counterproductive. This is the reason why I am interested in highlighting the prospects for correct implementation and legitimacy of EU policy reform on the asylum area."