To make the distribution of asylum seekers fairer, EU countries are trying a new approach to European asylum reform. “We have to make sure we also limit irregular migration,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said in Berlin on Friday at the start of a meeting with five other EU interior ministers. Austria is not included.
Under the time pressure of the European elections in the spring of 2024, the interior ministers of six European countries are trying to bring the deadlocked negotiations to a successful conclusion.
It will be attended by representatives from Sweden, Italy, France, Spain and Belgium. “It’s about a general system of responsibility on the one hand and solidarity on the other,” Faeser stressed.
States with EU external borders are spreading
In concrete terms, it is about ensuring that those seeking protection are reliably registered in the EU countries where they arrive first. Ideally, it will also be checked whether someone has the prospect of being recognized as a refugee. However, countries with external borders of the EU, such as Italy or Malta, are not yet prepared to do so. They insist that the distribution of asylum seekers within Europe must first be better regulated. So far, only a few countries – especially Germany – have voluntarily taken in some asylum seekers.
Compromises are probably necessary
Secretary of State for the Swedish Ministries of Justice and Home Affairs, Anders Hall, said he was convinced that an agreement would require very difficult compromises from all EU countries. “It will probably be a solution where no one is happy with everything, but at least everyone is equally dissatisfied with the collective solution,” he added.
Considerably more asylum applications in the EU
Last year, one million asylum applications were submitted in the countries of the European Union, more than since 2016. In addition, there were almost four million people from Ukraine who do not have to apply for asylum in the EU, but who do need to be housed and cared for.
Source: Krone
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