Legal EU policy towards refugees first received in the Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997. Before its adoption, the States solved the issue of granting the status of refugee, retreating from the Convention's provisions. The common policy of all the Member countries of the EU have been restricting the flow of refugees by negotiating with the countries of Eastern Europe, bilateral agreements on the readmission of refugees. The result of this policy was the growth of a buffer zone between Europe and the States, of which was the flow of refugees. This meant that asylum-seekers, it became much more difficult to travel to EU countries for asylum. Moreover, the principle of non-refoulement was violated. An illustration may serve as the courts of Germany, under which refugees were sent to the country of transit or of nationality, where they have been persecuted (Bosniaks in Croatia, the Ethiopians — in Sudan).