There are signs of a rethinking at EU level in German asylum policy. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently stated that the EU’s asylum policy “partly” also included “high fences and walls” at the common external borders. It is an admission that the recent increase in the number of asylum seekers in the EU is also putting politicians in Germany under pressure to act.
Faeser pointed out that the EU’s isolation from refugees is not her focus. One of the priorities of the Federal Government’s migration policy is the basic idea that states such as Italy must be relieved when it comes to taking in refugees who have been rescued from the Mediterranean. At the same time, the interior minister criticizes the common practice that migrants simply move on from Italy to Germany without going through an asylum procedure in the country of arrival.
Albrecht Meier works in the capital city editorial office. He has been dealing with European refugee policy for many years
But thinking about fences is also an indication that the EU’s asylum policy is in danger of getting out of control without increased security at the external borders. If migrants cannot be stopped by fences on their way to the EU, it must at least be ensured that their identity is established directly at the external borders.
When the EU states dealt with the topic at a special meeting almost two months ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was one of the few summit participants who did not want to speak out on a significant reduction in the number of asylum seekers. Nevertheless, the pressure to act is increasing. According to the EU statistical authority Eurostat, 881,200 initial applications for asylum were made in the EU last year – an increase of 64 percent compared to 2021.
In Germany, the increased number of asylum seekers together with the necessary accommodation for the Ukraine refugees mean that the municipalities are increasingly faced with financial and logistical problems. If this results in a more realistic view of EU asylum policy for the federal government, that is only logical.
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