Faeser expresses his agreement
Germany gives in to crisis regulation
September 28, 2023, 3:19 p.m
The planned EU asylum reform has long met with resistance in Germany. A planned crisis regulation has been particularly criticized. Now, after a word of power from the Chancellor, Interior Minister Faeser has announced that the German blockade is falling – despite concerns.
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 in Brussels at the EU Interior Ministers’ meeting. That’s why we will agree to the compromise. According to diplomatic circles, the majority of EU ministers have already agreed on the controversial crisis mechanism to alleviate the migration crisis.
The crisis regulation is a central element of the planned EU asylum reform, which is intended, among other things, to limit unwanted migration. For example, if there is a particularly strong increase in migration, the period during which people can be held in prison-like conditions should be extended. In addition, the circle of people who are eligible for the planned strict border procedures could be increased.
In Brussels, the federal government had previously explained its rejection of the proposal for the regulation 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 surprisingly 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.
Scholz’s word of power
Even in a crisis situation, there are still a number of control options to prevent misuse. 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.
Time is of the essence given the imminent European elections in June 2024. Projects that have not been negotiated with the governments of the member states by then 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.