German govt criticizes EU's planned asylum regulation

Berlin has criticized a regulation that allows overburdened EU member states to have longer deadlines for registering asylum applications at the external borders, as well as the possibility of lowering standards for accommodation and care, reported dpa.

While the German government is critical of the proposal, Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, wants to reach an agreement by the end of the month.

"The proposed regulation is still subject to review within the federal government," a spokesman for the German Interior Ministry told dpa on Sunday.

On June 8, the EU interior ministers voted in favour of comprehensive asylum system reforms by a sufficiently large majority. According to these plans, asylum applications of migrants from countries with a recognition rate of less than 20% are to be examined at the EU's external borders within 12 weeks.

During this time, those seeking protection will be obliged to stay in strictly controlled reception centres. Those who have no chance of asylum are to be sent back immediately.

In addition, those seeking protection in crisis situations should be required to stay longer than 12 weeks in reception facilities near the border.

A crisis situation is to be considered, for example, a situation in which another country attempts to exploit refugees for political leverage, as was recently the case on the Belarusian-Polish border.

In the negotiations, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser argued that families with children should be exempt from the border procedures. In order to make the breakthrough possible, however, she had to accept that an exemption might not be possible.