NAfter months of dispute, the federal and state governments have reached an agreement on the future distribution of refugee costs. The federal government wants to pay a flat rate of 7,500 euros per capita, said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) early on Tuesday morning in Berlin at the end of the Prime Minister’s Conference. The decision paper shows that the federal government wants to pay this annual flat rate for people who apply for asylum in Germany for the first time.
The states have long been demanding that the federal government contribute more financially to the refugee costs – also pointing out that they themselves have no influence on how many people come to Germany.
In mid-May, the federal government had already promised the states an additional billion euros for the current year. This is intended to support them in relieving the burden on their municipalities and financing the digitalization of the immigration authorities. But states and municipalities have been pushing for a future so-called breathing system for some time, in which payments are permanently based on the actual number of refugees.
Asylum procedures should be completed more quickly
Authorities and courts should process asylum procedures in Germany much more quickly in the future. The federal and state governments agreed on precise targets. The first decision from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees should generally be available after six months, and court proceedings in the first instance should also be completed after six months.
For applicants from countries with a low recognition rate of less than five percent, the procedures should be even faster: authorities and courts should only be given three months. In the first half of 2023, these countries included Montenegro, Algeria, Tunisia, Albania, Ghana, Kosovo and Georgia. Here, only a few applicants were granted asylum, granted refugee status, granted subsidiary protection or a deportation ban was imposed.
Check asylum procedures outside Europe
The federal government also wants to check whether asylum procedures are possible outside Europe. According to information from participants from the German Press Agency, the federal and state governments agreed on a corresponding wording for the final declaration of the federal-state summit in the Chancellery on Tuesday night: “The federal government will examine whether the determination of the protection status of refugees is with respect the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights can also take place in transit or third countries in the future.”
In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had already agreed to examine whether asylum procedures were possible “in exceptional cases” in so-called third countries outside the EU – while respecting the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. Circles at the Federal Ministry of the Interior said on Monday that this review was still ongoing.
Last week, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) made a new push for asylum procedures outside the EU. Scholz initially expressed reservations about this and pointed out that countries that were willing to do this would first have to be found. On Monday, the heads of government of the CDU and CSU, together with the Green Party Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann, supported Wüst’s proposal.
Two variants would be conceivable for asylum procedures outside the EU: Either the possibility for migrants to submit asylum applications for Germany in transit states, i.e. on the way to Europe. Or the return of those seeking protection from Germany to countries outside Europe, where they would then go through their asylum procedure. The British government is currently pursuing the latter option with Rwanda. But a court initially stopped them. The appeal process is still ongoing.