HomeNewsRefugee policy: Traffic light agrees on new asylum system at EU borders
Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sees a „historic momentum“. A major change is emerging in European asylum policy.
Greece, Feres: Border guards patrol the Evros, the river bordering Turkey. Petros Giannakouris/AP
According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), the federal government wants to support asylum procedures at the EU’s external borders and thus enable a reform of European refugee policy. Faser said on Sunday evening in the ARD program „Report from Berlin“ that a „major change“ was emerging in European asylum policy. The traffic light coalition has now agreed „that we want to advance this common asylum system,“ added the SPD politician.
In concrete terms, it is about the fact that “asylum procedures can already take place at the borders,” explained Faeser. „This means that the registration and recording and identification of the refugees will already take place there,“ said the Interior Minister. In the course of a „reconciliation“ within the EU, the „solidarity of the other states“ is then required. Those who meet the requirements for asylum must then also be admitted.
Despite the refugee crisis: the EU has not yet found a common asylum system
Since the refugee crisis of 2015, the EU has failed to agree on a comprehensive reform of the European asylum system. Faeser now sees an opportunity for Europe to move forward together in asylum policy. „We are now seeing a historic momentum that we can work with other European countries to get a common asylum system off the ground, where the asylum procedures take place at the borders,“ she said on ARD.
Faeser said she had been in talks with other EU countries about the details of the new procedure for months. Germany is working with France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Belgium, among others. A processing time for asylum applications of a maximum of twelve weeks is under discussion.