Asylum: refugee status for third-country nationals and stateless persons, minimum standards

The Council examined some Articles of this proposal (Articles 20 to 38) relating in particular to the minimum obligations that Member States shall have to those whom they grant international protection. The Council instructed its relevant bodies to further examine the proposal with a view to reaching a political agreement within the time limit decided by the Seville European Council (June 2003). The purpose of the proposal is to provide a framework for an international protection regime, based on existing international and Community obligations and current Member States practice, and separated into the two complementary categories of refugee and subsidiary protection. The proposal includes provisions on the minimum rights and benefits to be enjoyed by the beneficiaries of refugee status and of subsidiary protection status. It is recalled that at its meeting on 28 November 2002, the Council reached agreement, pending some parliamentary reservations and reservations from one delegation, on the provisions which concern the rules on the recognition of a third country national as a refugee or as a person eligible for subsidiary protection (Articles 1 to 19). Discussions in the Council bodies have shown that the rights to be granted to beneficiaries of refugee status are widely uncontested, while divergences persist concerning the level of the rights to be granted to the beneficiaries of subsidiary protection status.�