Parliament's groups finalise positions on asylum package

The asylum package consists of four reports:

•    One by Antonio Masip Hidalgo, a Spanish Socialist MEP, on the reception conditions member states are obliged to provide to asylum seekers, their access to the labour market and the criteria under which they can be detained
•    One on the Dublin Convention by Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, a Dutch Liberal MEP, which sets deadlines to make the procedure quicker, allows appeals against transfers and allows for states to suspend transfers if they are experiencing particular pressure on their system.
•    A third report by Nicolae Vlad Popa, a Romanian centre-right MEP, which sets down data protection rules on Eurodac, the database which stores fingerprints of asylum-seekers, and requires member states to delete the data once it is no longer needed.
•    A fourth report by Jean Lambert, a UK Green MEP, on a proposal to set up a European Asylum Support Office allows member states to exchange of information on third countries and would help the training of staff involved in asylum decision-making process.