Latest news with #DublinRules
Reuters
2 days ago
- General
- Reuters
Explainer: Court blow to Germany's new government on asylum: what happens now?
BERLIN, June 3 (Reuters) - A court ruling that Germany could not simply return to Poland three asylum seekers who entered the country in May dealt a blow to the signature migration policy of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's new government: turning illegal migrants back at the borders. Here is a closer look at a court case and its consequences: Police in May sent back to Poland three Somalis who crossed Germany's eastern border by train and requested asylum. With the help of asylum rights organisation Pro Asyl, they challenged this in a Berlin court. On Monday, a Berlin court issued an emergency injunction saying Germany had broken the law. Under the European Union's so-called Dublin rules - hitherto honoured mainly in the breach - refugees can only claim asylum in the first EU country they enter. The Berlin court said that before sending them back, authorities should have started the "Dublin process" of establishing which country was responsible for assessing their asylum claim, whether or not that was Poland. Germany only has land borders with other EU countries and Switzerland meaning that, in principle, nobody who arrives by land is eligible for asylum in the country. During his election campaign, Merz promised to crack down on migration on his government's first day in office. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, a fellow conservative, announced the policy of returning asylum seekers at the border. Following the ruling, he said the court's decision applied only in this particular case, set no precedent, and that the government would continue turning away asylum seekers crossing the land borders. This is true in a narrow sense: the ruling only applies to the three Somalis and does not bind any other judges. Other judges are bound by the same laws, however, so there is no reason to think they will rule differently. "The German government will lose every single case on this point, all the way up to the European Union's court," migration policy expert Gerald Knaus told Stern magazine. While migration is a signature issue for Merz and Dobrindt, their Social Democrat coalition partners are less comfortable with it. Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said in a tight-lipped statement that "the court's ruling must be followed". Legal experts say that, to be successful, German authorities would have to reject migrants before they enter the country's territory - something for which they would need neighbouring countries' cooperation. But Poland is no less racked by migration debates than Germany. Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government has just been dealt a heavy blow by Sunday's election victory of a right-wing candidate for whom reducing the number of migrants was a key topic. In the short term, it is likely to be difficult to get neighbouring countries, all of which feel more exposed to migration pressure than Germany, to accede to Dobrindt's demands. Perhaps not. The far-right Alternative for Germany was quick off the mark in condemning the "failure" of the new government's migration policy. But the next major regional election is almost a year away and overall migration levels, initially driven up by the Syrian civil war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have been on a downward trend for several years, independent of any policies adopted by individual EU countries.
Arab News
3 days ago
- General
- Arab News
Germany's Merz says court ruling will not stop migration crackdown
BERLIN: Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday a court ruling that German authorities acted unlawfully when border police expelled three Somali asylum seekers could restrict his government's migration crackdown but would not stop it altogether. People would continue to be turned away at the German border, he said. A Berlin administrative court said on Monday the expulsion of the three unnamed Somalis, who were sent back to Poland after arriving at a train station in eastern Germany, was 'unlawful.' It said the asylum application should have been processed by Germany under the European Union's so-called Dublin rules that determine which country is responsible for processing a claim. The ruling was a setback for Merz's government, which won a federal election in February after promising a crackdown on migration that has caused concern in neighboring countries. The court ruling has 'possibly further restricted the scope for maneuver here,' Merz told a local government congress. 'But the scope is still there. We know that we can still reject people.' 'We will, of course, do this within the framework of European law, but we will also do it to protect public safety and order in our country and to relieve the burden on cities and municipalities,' he said. Migration is among German voters' biggest concerns and a backlash against an influx of new arrivals has contributed to a rise in the popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which came second in February's election. It is a big shift since Germany's 'Refugees Welcome' culture during Europe's migrant crisis in 2015 under Merz's conservative predecessor, Angela Merkel. Merz's government issued an order in May to reject undocumented migrants, including asylum seekers, at Germany's borders. Monday's ruling was seized on by critics as evidence that Merz's migration policy was unworkable. 'The administrative court has determined that Dobrindt's policy of rejecting asylum seekers is unlawful, contrary to European law, and now the Federal Ministry of the Interior should really start thinking about how to finally put an end to this nonsense,' Karl Kopp of the pro-immigration advocacy group Pro Asyl told Reuters. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the expulsions, saying he would provide the court with justifications for banning entry.
Reuters
3 days ago
- General
- Reuters
Germany's Merz says court ruling will not stop migration crackdown
BERLIN, June 3 (Reuters) - Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday a court ruling that German authorities acted unlawfully when border police expelled three Somali asylum seekers could restrict his government's migration crackdown but would not stop it altogether. People would continue to be turned away at the German border, he said. A Berlin administrative court said on Monday the expulsion of the three unnamed Somalis, who were sent back to Poland after arriving at a train station in eastern Germany, was "unlawful". It said the asylum application should have been processed by Germany under the European Union's so-called Dublin rules that determine which country is responsible for processing a claim. The ruling was a setback for Merz's government, which won a federal election in February after promising a crackdown on migration that has caused concern in neighbouring countries. The court ruling has "possibly further restricted the scope for manoeuvre here," Merz told a local government congress. "But the scope is still there. We know that we can still reject people." "We will, of course, do this within the framework of European law, but we will also do it to protect public safety and order in our country and to relieve the burden on cities and municipalities," he said. Migration is among German voters' biggest concerns and a backlash against an influx of new arrivals has contributed to a rise in the popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which came second in February's election. It is a big shift since Germany's "Refugees Welcome" culture during Europe's migrant crisis in 2015 under Merz's conservative predecessor, Angela Merkel. Merz's government issued an order in May to reject undocumented migrants, including asylum seekers, at Germany's borders. Monday's ruling was seized on by critics as evidence that Merz's migration policy was unworkable. "The administrative court has determined that Dobrindt's policy of rejecting asylum seekers is unlawful, contrary to European law, and now the Federal Ministry of the Interior should really start thinking about how to finally put an end to this nonsense," Karl Kopp of the pro-immigration advocacy group Pro Asyl told Reuters. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the expulsions, saying he would provide the court with justifications for banning entry.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
German Court Blocks Rejection of Asylum Seekers in Blow to Merz
A Berlin court ruled that Germany's controversial move to refuse entry to some asylum seekers is unlawful in a setback for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's tougher stance on migration. The court granted a challenge filed by three Somali nationals who were turned back last month at the Polish border, and said they should have been processed according to the European Union's so-called Dublin rules for asylum cases.
Reuters
3 days ago
- General
- Reuters
German court rules rejection of asylum seekers by border control as unlawful
BERLIN, June 2 (Reuters) - A German administrative court has ruled the rejection of asylum seekers by border control on German territory as unlawful, a court statement said on Monday. The statement cited the instance of three unnamed Somali applicants, two men and one woman, who were turned back and returned to Poland on the grounds that they had sought to enter Germany from a safe country. Monday's ruling could challenge the tougher migration stance by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative-led coalition, which was elected in February promising a crackdown. The interior ministry had no immediate comment. "The rejection of the applicants was unlawful," the Berlin court said in a statement, adding that the asylum application should have been processed by Germany under the European Union's so-called Dublin rules. "However, the applicants could not demand to enter the Federal Republic of Germany beyond the border crossing," it added, saying that the application could be processed at or near the border.
