The topic of asylum is to be the focus of today’s conference of prime ministers, which Chancellor Scholz will also attend. Specifically, the topic could be possible asylum procedures in third countries. However, experts see high hurdles.
How can we curb irregular migration? This will once again be the big topic when the state premiers sit down with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. They will also discuss the question: Can asylum procedures be outsourced outside the EU, to third countries?
This is what politicians from the CDU and CSU are demanding. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann is demanding that “opportunities be created to allow a preliminary review of refugee applications outside Germany, outside the EU.”
Experts see high hurdles for asylum procedures
The Federal Ministry of the Interior will present a report at the conference on whether and how this will work. It is available to the ARD-Capital Studio. The conclusion of the experts: Legally, such asylum procedures are possible, but there are high hurdles and many practical questions and problems.
It would have to be ensured that the procedures abroad are carried out in accordance with the law. In addition, the costs of outsourced procedures are potentially very high and the benefits are questionable: will it deter other refugees? The federal government did not want to say in advance what its position on asylum procedures in third countries would be.
SPD politician Andy Grote, Hamburg’s Interior Senator, is skeptical. The EU has just agreed on a comprehensive asylum reform that provides for asylum procedures in camps at the external borders. “And that will cost us a lot of energy, a lot of resources, a lot of effort,” he says. “That is the European path that we have decided on together. And I would be very reluctant to immediately open up an alternative path again.”
The Greens oppose asylum procedures in third countries. The FDP, on the other hand, is in favor of it.
Debate on how to deal with Serious offenders
Another demand is also likely to be discussed at the meeting of the state premiers: deporting serious criminals who are required to leave the country to Afghanistan or Syria. Chancellor Scholz recently spoke out in favor of this. There are also many statements of agreement among the state premiers.
Manuela Schwesig, SPD, from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania demands that “those who come to us and actually seek protection, but from whom we have to protect ourselves because they are criminals, cannot stay.”
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens agrees: “Murderers, terrorists and dangerous people cannot rely on the protection of the country they actually want to destroy – and whose order they trample underfoot.”
Ministry wants deportations via detour
In practice, this is not possible at the moment, because Germany does not speak or work with the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Assad regime in Syria. However, the Interior Ministry is currently negotiating confidentially with neighboring countries and wants to enable deportations via this detour.
How quickly this will happen is completely unclear. As is often the case, measures against irregular migration are complex and success takes time. The conference of state premiers will therefore also be about the right to interpret how much has been achieved in the past few months. The Chancellor says: a lot. The CDU-led states say: far too little and everything is taking too long.
Eva Huber, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, 20.06.2024 00:30