Germany paves the way for tighter EU asylum rules

The rules for implementing a stricter European Union asylum law in Germany cleared the final hurdle in the upper house of parliament or Bundesrat on Friday.

Key points of the reform, which will apply across the EU starting June 12, are mandatory identity checks for people arriving at the EU's external borders.

For people from countries of origin with a low recognition rate, asylum examinations are to take place as part of the border control procedures.

If an application is rejected, asylum seekers may be deported directly from there.

Since Germany is in the middle of Europe, it is affected by the external border procedures only with at its international airports and seaports.

Measures against moving on within the EU

Procedures for people seeking protection who have already filed an asylum application in another member state will be shortened.

The transfer of asylum seekers to the state responsible for their procedure will be extended, for example if someone goes into hiding in the meantime.

The states can set up so-called secondary migration centres with a residency requirement.

These are to house people who have to leave Germany because another EU country is responsible for their procedure.

Solidarity mechanism to help external border states

Heavily burdened states at the EU's external borders are in future to have some asylum seekers taken off their hands.

The fact that Germany does not have to take in anyone this year under this solidarity mechanism is partly due to the fact that many asylum seekers and war refugees from Ukraine have come to the Federal Republic in recent years.

The Greens criticized the new rules as the biggest tightening of asylum law since 1993.

While European rules had to be implemented, the centre-left coalition had acted with excessive harshness, it said.

In the Bundesrat there were discussions, among other things, about provisions affecting minors.