Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has shown herself open to preliminary asylum checks at the EU’s external borders, but insists on compliance with human rights standards. Asylum procedures at the external borders are “a curse and an opportunity at the same time,” the Green politician told the Funke media group’s newspapers. “Border procedures are highly problematic because they interfere with civil liberties,” said Baerbock. But the EU Commission’s proposal is the only realistic chance of achieving an “orderly and humane distribution process” in an EU of 27 very different countries in the foreseeable future.
“That’s why we’re negotiating hard in Brussels to ensure that nobody gets stuck in border procedures for more than a few weeks, that families with children don’t get caught up in border procedures, that the core of the right to asylum isn’t eroded.” When asked whether her party would go along with this, Baerbock said: “It depends on whether our European human rights standards are respected.” The line is very thin, critical questions are important.
On June 8, the EU interior ministers want to deal with the topic again
“But not acting would have bitter consequences,” warned Baerbock. Without a common European response, the trend is already everywhere towards “more isolation, more pushbacks, more fences”. And without order at the external borders, it is only a matter of time before one EU country after another starts talking about internal border controls again.
Baerbock emphasized: “The fact that we in the EU have not had a functioning common asylum policy for years is Europe’s open wound.” Now, for the first time since 2015, the EU Commission has proposed a compromise that has a real chance of bringing together the very different concerns in the EU. “There are three elements to this: All refugees are registered at the border. All EU states commit to a binding solidarity mechanism. And only refugees who also have the prospect of staying in Europe are distributed.”
On June 8th, the EU interior ministers want to deal with the topic again in Luxembourg. The EU states are currently trying at full speed to agree on the main features of a reform of the European asylum system, which has been the subject of heated debate for years. In particular, the question of whether there should be preliminary checks on asylum applications at the European external borders and a possible distribution of refugees in Europe is controversial. There is room for checking immediately after registration in external border states whether someone has a chance of protection or not. The background are proposals by the EU Commission from 2020.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) spoke out in favor of a preliminary asylum check at the external borders at the beginning of the month.