Agency Report –
Deficits in German and European migration law, including hurdles to carrying out deportations, are increasing the risk of attacks, according to experts testifying before an inquiry committee into the deadly attack in Germany’s Solingen last year.
Three people were killed and eight injured in the stabbing attack at a city festival in the western city on August 23. The main suspect, a Syrian national identified as Issa Al H. in line with German privacy laws, is believed to have evaded deportation to Bulgaria.
The inquiry committee has been tasked with looking into potential failures by the regional government and authorities to prevent the attack, which is believed to have an Islamist motive.
Expert witness Martin Fleuss, a federal administrative court judge and law professor, blamed deficiencies in German and European migration law, among other factors for preparing “the ground for the attack in Solingen.”
These shortcomings could “be exploited at any time for the perpetration of further attacks of a similar nature,” he said.
Law professor Daniel Thym cited numerous obstacles that prevented German authorities from carrying out deportations, including the accommodating of asylum seekers in decentralized locations.
This made it more difficult for authorities to access people, he argued.
Thym also noted structural deficits in an EU-wide agreement known as the Dublin Regulation, which calls for migrants to be sent back to the country where their asylum cases were first registered.
In many cases, EU countries actually responsible for an asylum seeker under the rules boycott the system, the expert said.
“Dublin cannot work because the system is riddled with design flaws,” he added.
Dietrich Thränhardt, a migration researcher, noted that despite the pressure from municipalities and federal states, asylum procedures in Germany have not been sped up in recent years.
He calculated that it takes more than three years on average in Germany before there is the theoretical possibility of deportation – which, however, often fails in practice.
Berlin says the suspected perpetrator in the Solingen attack was supposed to have been deported to Bulgaria last year after his request for asylum in Germany had been rejected.
Germany believes Bulgaria was the EU county responsible for processing his claim.
