The European Commission said its proposals gave clear guidance for deciding on asylum applications and what procedures to follow to avoid unequal treatment across the 27 EU countries.
Asylum and immigration are highly sensitive issues in many EU countries, notably in Italy and Greece, where authorities say they cannot cope with the hundreds of thousands of people arriving as potential illegal migrants, often on creaky boats.
The Commission's proposals will be scrutinised and possibly amended by national governments and the European Parliament before becoming law. It is expected that negotiations in the Council and the Parliament will take approximately two years.
The legislation would give EU countries three years to conform to a requirement to examine asylum applications within six months.
It would also force authorities to clearly present to people their rights when arriving in the country in which they are seeking asylum, including migrants trying to enter the EU by boat from Africa.
Human rights groups said the proposals did not guarantee fair examination of claims. The legislation would continue to allow states to deny proper asylum procedures to people who had transited from a country deemed safe, the groups said.
Rights groups and some politicians have criticised Italy for automatically sending boats of migrants to Libya without checking whether they may have a rightful claim to asylum.
Italy and Greece complain they carry a disproportionally heavy burden of this often-illegal migration and that other EU countries are not doing enough to help them.
The proposal will also eliminate the differences between the rights of refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection. It will rationalise procedures and reduce administrative costs associated with maintaining two protection statuses.
Moreover, the European Commission proposed the establishment of a European Asylum Support Office. This operational agency will support exchanges of good practices and help to coordinate cooperation on asylum between member states.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
