Talks on a common European Union asylum process are bogged down as the flow of refugees rises, UPI quoted officials as saying. The so-called Dublin regulation has been in place since 2003 to keep people from applying for asylum in several EU member states, but the chances for approval vary widely by country, the EUObserver reports. At a conference held by nongovernmental organizations in Brussels Thursday, Abdulaev Movladi, a Chechen refugee, described being shuttled among several countries and their jails before Austria finally let him join his brother there. Negotiations on a common EU asylum system are snagged on the temporary suspension mechanism, which would supersede the Dublin process in exceptional cases, such as currently in Greece, home to overcrowded and squalid refugee camps. In January, the European Court of Human Rights criticized Belgium for sending an Afghan citizen back to Greece, where he suffered degrading treatment. Britain, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Finland and Denmark have since stopped transfers to Greece. Cecilia Wikstroem, a Swedish European Parliament member, said the issue is threatening the Lisbon Treaty principle that EU policies "shall be governed by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibilities."
