EU Commission increasing efforts to set up common asylum system

The European Commission today presented plans to intensify efforts to set up a joint European Union asylum procedures by 2010, including better sharing of resources and information between EU governments to handle claimants.

The plan, which will be presented by EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini to EU ministers next week, sets out practical ways how 25 sets of different national asylum rules can be brought together under a single EU guidebook.