Agency Report –
Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is questioning the effectiveness of the European Union’s current asylum system amid the country’s ongoing migration policy debate.
CDU lawmaker Thorsten Frei criticized the EU-wide agreement known as the Dublin Regulation, which stipulates that in general the country the refugee first enters is responsible for processing their application for asylum.
The regulation “did not work in the past, and it is not working today,” Frei told public broadcaster ARD on Monday.
Frei proposed a shift to a “safe third country” approach, which would see asylum procedures carried out outside Europe.
He said that 16 EU heads of state and government support changes to the common EU asylum system, GEAS.
When asked where refugees could exercise their constitutional right to asylum in Germany under the new framework, Frei cited the Dublin Regulation, noting that asylum applications could still be made in certain cases, such as at airports.
He added that quotas would be set for those most in need of protection. When asked how this process would be organized, Frei explained it could be managed through UNHCR organizations or by German officials selecting particularly vulnerable people.
The CDU, along with its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), is leading in polls for the vote on February 23 on around 30%, ahead of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
However, CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s controversial decision to push for reforms to the country’s migration laws – following a deadly knife attack last month for which an Afghan national has been detained – has shaken up the election campaign.
Critics accuse Merz of breaking the long-standing “firewall” preventing cooperation with the AfD, after his non-binding plan to tackle illegal migration secured a narrow majority in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, on Wednesday thanks to the far-right party’s support.
