Border protection – Karner: EU needs a tougher asylum system

There they must apply for asylum and not return to Great Britain for the time being. A first flight was already planned, but was stopped in mid-June by the European Court of Human Rights with a ban. Denmark had announced similar plans. “(…) I know it is not legally possible yet, but we have to talk about it and talk about it,” Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) said at the meeting of EU interior ministers on Monday. in Prague. First of all, it is not necessary to talk about specific countries, but about whether in the ground it is possible to introduce a similar model.

“Tug Always Bolder”
All of Europe is affected. According to Karner, the smugglers are increasingly advertising that the borders are open because of the refugees from Ukraine. In addition, there is the difficult economic situation, which is driving people to flee in many countries. “But we also have to say clearly: that’s not what the asylum system is for in the end.” Karner justified the demand for “regulation that does not result in what we have now” with the fact that this ultimately protects the refugees themselves. People must be prevented from drowning or suffocating in trucks on the Balkan route on their way across the Mediterranean Sea.

Arms smuggling on the agenda
The EU countries have not agreed on a reform of the European asylum system for years, for example, some countries, such as Austria, have rejected the distribution of refugees within the EU. In addition to migration, increasing arms smuggling is also on the agenda at the meeting of the ministers of the interior. The war in Ukraine is believed to be the reason for the increase. The discussion will focus on how controls and cooperation with the police can prevent arms smuggling.