The concerns remain – but after months of hesitation, Germany wants to clear the way for the controversial part of the EU asylum reform. Interior Minister Faeser stated that they would agree to the compromise on the crisis regulation.
Despite ongoing concerns, Germany wants to agree to the controversial crisis regulation as part of the planned EU asylum reform. “Although we still need to make further changes and beyond, we are living up to our responsibility today,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser at the EU Interior Ministers’ meeting in Brussels. That’s why we’ll agree. The SPD politician spoke of an “excellently negotiated compromise”.
According to Spanish Interior Minister and current Council President Fernando Grande-Marlaska, this paves the way for the final component of the European asylum reform. The so-called crisis regulation provides for significantly stricter measures if a particularly large number of migrants threaten to overload the asylum system.
For example, the period during which people can be held in strict isolation can be extended. In addition, the circle of people who are eligible for the planned strict border procedures could be increased.
Above all, criticism from the Greens
So far, the federal government had rejected the regulation mainly because of criticism from the Greens. In Brussels she had previously explained this by saying that this set of rules could enable EU states to unacceptably lower protection standards for migrants.
In Germany, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and other Green Party politicians recently expressed fears that the crisis rules could create “incentives for large numbers of unregistered refugees to be forwarded to Germany.” The Council of EU Member States in Brussels suspected that this argument could be connected to the upcoming state elections in Hesse and Bavaria, because this line had not played a role in the EU negotiations to date.
According to the plans for asylum reform, member states would have to register all arriving people even if there was a sharp increase in migration. A possible extension of deadlines for this would only be possible with the prior consent of the Council of Member States. The same applies to the weakening of protection standards. Even in a crisis situation, there are still a number of control options to prevent misuse.
Scholz urges an end to the blockade
On Wednesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to government circles in the cabinet, announced that the crisis regulation could no longer be blocked. As soon as the dispute over the crisis regulation has been resolved, the negotiations with the European Parliament, which are important for the reform, can probably continue. Parliament recently announced that it would block parts of the talks until the EU states have positioned themselves on the issue of crisis regulations.
With the European elections coming soon in June 2024, time is of the essence. Projects that have not yet been negotiated with the governments of the member states could then be called into question again and be delayed for a long time. In the case of the planned reform of the asylum system, this would be a particularly big setback. The project has been in the works for years. Right-wing parties in particular, such as the AfD, have long accused the EU of failing in the fight against illegal migration.