Secret documents show that the EU’s asylum reform is in danger of failing

The interior ministers of the EU states want to discuss a reform of the asylum system on Thursday. It’s about faster asylum procedures, preferably at the EU’s external borders, fair distribution among the receiving countries and border protection. But the asylum reform is in danger of failing, and according to internal documents, the member states do not even agree on the key points. This is reported by the Bild “, who has the secret correspondence.

According to the internal report, “an agreement on June 8 is still not within reach”. On Thursday, the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which has been controversial for years, is to take place in Luxembourg. Among other things, it is about the question of whether there should be preliminary checks on asylum applications at the EU’s external borders, and how many refugees can go through this asylum procedure, and whether Exceptions for families should give.

Several states are threatening to scrap reforms

But there are several states that oppose the current proposal for reform and are threatening to veto it:

• Poland rejects a monetary fee per migrant that a country does not want to take in. In addition, Poland does not want a fixed minimum number of refugees to be distributed among the EU countries.
• Hungary and Czech Republic reject the reform proposal completely.
• Belgium fears that the new reform at the external borders cannot be implemented because the “many new burdens” for the external border states are too high.

• GreeceCyprus and Malta were responsible for one year as the first country of entry for migrants according to the Dublin rule that has been in force up to now, now it should be three years according to the reform. Greece threatens a veto.

• Italy says the country is being overwhelmed with border procedures as an EU border state. The “recognition rate” is “less than 20 percent,” but many refugees cannot be returned.

The background to the EU consultations is the increased number of migrants. For months, many have been trying to reach southern Italy from North Africa via the Mediterranean. According to information from Rome, more than 50,000 migrants have come to Italy on boats since January. According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 980 people have died or have been missing since the beginning of the year. In Germany, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees received a good 100,000 initial asylum applications in the first four months of this year, an increase of around 78 percent.