EU asylum system – interior ministers grapple with “historic decision”

“The last meters of a path are often the hardest and most difficult, so I expect intense negotiations,” Karner said ahead of the meeting. It would need “faster, stricter and therefore fairer procedures at the EU’s external borders”. In addition, he will fight for asylum procedures in “safe third countries”, the interior minister stressed.

Asked about the distribution of refugees and possible compensation payments, Karner replied: Austria had “always shown solidarity in the past”, for example with Austrian police officers on the Hungarian-Serbian border. Karner stressed that Austria had the second highest number of asylum applications per capita in recent years.

Austria has the most asylum-seeking children
Austria also has the highest percentage of children seeking asylum in the EU. According to this year’s fundamental rights report by the Vienna-based Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), published on Thursday, the number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Austria will more than double by 2022 with 13,275 applications; in 2021, 5,605 children had applied for asylum.

This puts Austria at the top of the EU, followed by Germany (7275) and the Netherlands (4205). According to the report, the number of asylum applications from children has also risen sharply across the EU – from 25,130 applications in 2021 to 39,520 in 2022.

In the second half of 2022, the rising number of asylum applications in Austria led to declining reception capacity. According to the report, about 5,000 accommodations were missing in Austria. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has criticized the use of tents to house asylum seekers in very cold conditions.

Insist on “historic decision”
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser urged a “historic decision” ahead of the meeting in Luxembourg. In the ARD “Morgenmagazin” Faeser said: “I’m afraid that if we don’t get a common asylum system, we will revert to nationalism.” Schengen with open borders would probably no longer be possible. For Germany, an agreement on the asylum issue is therefore a good compromise. She described the planned registration of asylum seekers at the external borders of the EU as the “key point of this reform”. Berlin had recently signaled movement in this regard, but at the same time insisted on exceptions for families with children.

“We are closer than ever before. It is not easy. But coming to a decision will never be easier than today,” Swedish Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said ahead of the meeting. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said something similar: “If we fail, we are all losers.” Sweden will hold the presidency of the EU Council until the end of June, after which Spain will take over for six months.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson compared the negotiations to a marathon in which “we may still have a hundred meters to go”. “We are so close,” Johansson said confidently, speaking of a “balanced” proposal.

EU relocation of asylum seekers controversial
The redistribution of asylum seekers arriving within the EU at the EU’s external borders is particularly controversial. This “solidarity mechanism” is intended to kick in in exceptional cases, such as when large numbers of people seek protection – but fronts between EU countries have hardened.

While countries such as Austria, Poland and Hungary strongly reject a mandatory quota for redistribution, southern countries such as Italy and Greece, where many migrants arrive, have been demanding more support for years. In the future, however, there must be the possibility to buy your freedom from taking in refugees. There was recently talk of compensation of around 20,000 euros per asylum seeker.

Those who come from a country that is considered relatively safe may in the future end up in a strictly controlled reception after crossing the border. Within a few weeks, it will be checked whether the asylum seeker has a chance of being granted asylum, otherwise he will be sent back immediately. This now applies, for example, to people from Tunisia, Egypt or Bangladesh.

Can EU interior ministers agree?
It is still unclear whether the EU interior ministers can agree on this on Thursday. Approval is requested from 15 EU states, which together make up at least 65 percent of the EU’s total population. If an agreement is reached, member states will have to agree again on the final legal text with the EU parliament.

The President of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, called for a swift decision. “We now need a constructive approach from all EU countries and a decision as soon as possible, ideally this Thursday,” Metsola told the “Welt” (Thursday edition). Then the EU parliament could approve the EU’s new migration and asylum package before the end of the legislature in June 2024. “We cannot afford to waste time, possibly even years,” Metsola said.

Reform is “desperately needed”
ÖVP-EU MPs Angelika Winzig and Lukas Mandl called for “an urgent joint solution” to asylum and migration issues. “The EU countries, such as Austria, which are burdened above average with migration, must now be helped,” it sounds in a broadcast on Thursday. Theresa Bielowski, SPÖ-EU MP, spoke of an agreement as a “historic step”. The reforms are “desperately needed”.

Green MEP Monika Vana called for “European, solidarity and inclusive policies for people fleeing”. A “fortress of Europe” must be clearly rejected. FPÖ MP Hannes Amesbauer expressed a “clear rejection” of the “dark dreams of Brussels” about a distribution of refugees. Austria must strengthen its “sovereignty and self-determination”.