Interior Minister Dobrindt: The EU asylum system urgently needs to be tightened up!

Interior Minister Dobrindt: The EU asylum system urgently needs to be tightened up!

The interior ministers of the federal states recently met in Bremerhaven for a three-day conference at which the challenges of migration policy were on the agenda. Under the leadership of Bremen Interior Senator Mäurer (SPD), Federal Interior Minister Dobrindt commented on the most urgent issues in the area of ​​asylum and migration. A central concern was to tighten up the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) in order to send a signal to reduce migration. This was reported by Deutschlandfunk.

The discussion about reforming the CEAS is not new. The EU began to develop a common asylum policy around 25 years ago. The Treaty of Amsterdam, entered into in 1997, laid the foundation for a harmonized migration and border policy within the EU. The Dublin Regulation is crucial because it regulates which member state is responsible for asylum procedures. This would mainly be the country into which those seeking protection first entered. This legal framework is currently being put to the test as the EU Commission recently adopted a comprehensive migration and asylum package that is due to come into force in 2026, as bpb.de reports.

New approaches and challenges

With over 80 agenda items, in addition to asylum reform, other essential topics were also up for debate. This included, for example, electronic residence monitoring, which was discussed as a measure against femicides. How to deal with the AfD in view of a possible court confirmation as a right-wing extremist party was also discussed.

The reform of the CEAS aims to reduce the arrival of people seeking protection. In addition, asylum procedures should be carried out at the external borders of the EU in order to limit the mobility of those seeking protection. An important part of this reform is the screening process, which records the identity and other important data of those arriving within seven days. Fast-track procedures at the external borders are also part of the new regulations, which are intended to enable rejected asylum seekers to be returned to their countries of origin more quickly.

Mechanisms for dealing with crisis situations

In addition to the legal adjustments, Parliament is introducing a new mechanism to respond to sudden increases in migrant inflows. This is supplemented by an independent control system that is intended to protect the basic rights of those affected. The approval of these measures followed an intensive debate in Parliament and shows the desire to make the EU's migration policy more effective and fairer. These developments were closely followed by europarl.eu.

The revision of the Dublin regulations and the introduction of a binding solidarity mechanism attempt to address the imbalance between the EU's external border states and the internal countries. It remains to be seen how these measures will affect European asylum policy in the long term and whether they will actually benefit those seeking protection who find themselves caught up in these often inhumane procedures.