Decreased Number of Asylum Requests - 'Change is Delivering Results'
Approximately 200,000 people have submitted asylum requests in Germany so far this year. This represents a significant decrease compared to the previous year, which Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sees as a testament to the effectiveness of newly instituted policies. Faeser aims to further reduce the number of asylum seekers by subjecting refugees from Turkey to screenings at airports.
Data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) shows that during the first nine months of the year, a total of 195,095 asylum applications were submitted, representing a 23.5% decrease compared to the same period last year. Additionally, there were 15,883 follow-up applications. Approximately 9% of the initial applications pertained to children under a year old who were born in Germany.
The majority of asylum seekers hailed from Syria, with 61,000 applications, followed by Afghanistan with 29,500 applications. Asylum seekers from Turkey came in third with a total of 24,462 applications.
Faeser has requested approval from the EU Commission to accelerate the proposed tightening of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) at German airports. The aim is to conduct checks at the EU's external border to ascertain whether someone has a valid claim for protection or not, specifically for asylum seekers from countries with less than a 20% recognition rate across Europe.
Should this be permissible, asylum seekers from Turkey would also be subjected to such checks. Faeser commented after a meeting with the FDP parliamentary group that the so-called overall protection rate for asylum applications from Turkey, decided this year, was 9.6% in the first nine months.
Faeser attributed the decrease in asylum applications to changes made in Germany's migration and asylum policies. "We have received 20% fewer asylum applications than last year and have seen a 20% increase in returns," she stated.
The FDP parliamentary group presented a nine-point proposal on migration over the weekend. They advocate for examining countries like Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, as well as India, Colombia, and Armenia, which could still be classified as "safe countries of origin." This would enable faster rejections of asylum applications from people originating from such countries.
According to Bamf, a total of 228,834 initial and follow-up applications were decided upon from January to the end of September. The overall protection rate was 46.1%, with 65,234 applications being rejected and 58,003 other case closures.
The FDP parliamentary group, in their proposal, suggest examining countries like Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, among others, to potentially classify them as "safe countries of origin." This could lead to faster rejections of asylum applications from individuals originating from such countries. Faeser, in her efforts to reduce the number of asylum seekers, has requested EU Commission approval for stricter checks at airports for asylum seekers from Turkey, given their low recognition rate.
