Germany no longer has to accept migrants

EU asylum reform

EU analysis: Germany no longer has to accept migrants

Germany can probably defend itself against additional demands to admit refugees. A report from Brussels also classifies the Federal Republic as being at risk.

Germany can demand that it does not have to accept any additional migrants from other member states until at least the end of 2026 under the new EU solidarity mechanism. According to information from the German Press Agency, this emerges from an analysis by EU Interior Commissioner Magnus Brunner of the so-called solidarity pool, which is intended to relieve the burden on states with high migration pressure as part of the EU asylum reform.

Germany can therefore rely on the fact that it is already taking care of a large number of asylum seekers for whom other EU states would actually be responsible. Other solidarity contributions such as cash or benefits in kind would therefore not be necessary from the German side. Theoretically, these can be provided by EU states that are obliged to provide support and do not want to accept refugees.

In its analysis, the Commission classifies Greece and Cyprus as well as Spain and Italy as countries that are entitled to solidarity from other EU states in the coming year due to high migration pressure. Greece and Cyprus are therefore under pressure due to a disproportionate number of arrivals last year, Spain and Italy due to numerous sea rescues.

Germany, along with countries such as Belgium, France and the Netherlands, is one of the group of countries that could be at risk of coming under high migration pressure in the coming year due to high numbers of arrivals or strain on the reception systems. They have to show solidarity if, like Germany, they cannot get credit for processing asylum applications for which they are not actually responsible.

According to the Commission’s assessment, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Croatia are in a “pronounced migration situation”. This means that they can apply to be fully or partially exempt from solidarity obligations based on the cumulative burdens of the past five years.

The EU states that are likely to have to accept migrants from other countries or make other solidarity contributions under the new rules include countries such as Sweden, Portugal, Hungary, Romania and Luxembourg. The new EU rules stipulate that at least 30,000 takeovers should take place annually and financial contributions of 600 million euros must be made. However, there are likely to be fewer in the coming year, as the solidarity mechanism will not come into force until mid-2026.

EU Interior Commissioner Magnus Brunner said of the results of the analysis that it was obvious that Germany had already borne a large part of this solidarity before the new asylum pact came into force. The Federal Republic will therefore benefit significantly from the reform of the asylum and migration system – in particular from the new tasks of the member states at the external borders.

This included registering new arrivals, conducting security checks and the new border procedure. The latter stipulates that certain migrants could in future be sent to strictly controlled reception centers after crossing the border under prison-like conditions.