German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has hailed the drop in asylum applications as proof that the country’s tough measures are working, with figures for 2024 showing a 23% drop from the previous year.
Last month, Germany caused a stir when it announced the reintroduction of checks at all its internal borders as a permitted exception to the rules of the borderless Schengen area.
According to figures released by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees on Tuesday, the number of applications also fell from 27,889 in September 2023 to 18,113 in September 2024.
Faeser praised the figures as proof that “our measures are working.”
“And we continue to act to limit irregular migration. We are implementing the new Common European Asylum System as quickly as possible,” she wrote on X.
The government is also looking to introduce fast-track asylum procedures at its internal borders to speed up deportations of asylum seekers who, under the Dublin system, should be sent back to the first EU country they entered.
Germany has also backed an EU initiative to reduce obstacles to the deportation of rejected asylum seekers, which will be discussed at a meeting of EU interior ministers on Thursday.
Nevertheless, Germany still tops the list of EU countries with the most asylum applications, with 171,000 this year, Welt am Sonntag reported over the weekend, citing the EU’s asylum agency. Germany is followed by Spain (123,000) and Italy (117,000).
“This is still far from the number acceptable to end the ongoing overload,” Friedrich Merz, leader of the main centre-right opposition CDU party, said on Tuesday, insisting that all asylum seekers entering under Dublin rules must be turned away at the border.
(Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de)
Source: euractiv.com
