Latest news with #MagnusBrunner
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany and EU allies push for ‘tougher, stricter' asylum rules
Germany's interior minister has hosted five of his European counterparts to discuss ways of tightening the region's asylum rules, as his country deported 81 Afghans to their Taliban-controlled homeland. The European Union's immigration system needed to be 'tougher and stricter', Minister Alexander Dobrindt said after Friday's meeting in southern Germany with the interior ministers of France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, as well as EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner. The cohort issued a five-page communique on their aims, which included the establishment of 'return hubs' for holding people outside the EU, enabling asylum procedures in third countries, and allowing deportations to Afghanistan and Syria as standard practice. All measures would require approval from Brussels. 'When we analyse what has been agreed here, it's lofty ambitions, but not much detail about how they intend to pursue what's in these five pages,' said Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin. Ministers, he said, had talked about 'the sorts of things that they agree on, but they know they can't implement them themselves as unilateral decisions.' Speaking after the meeting, Dobrindt said, 'We wanted to send a signal that Germany is no longer sitting in the brakeman's cab on migration issues in Europe, but is in the locomotive.' Afghans deported Hours before the meeting, Germany demonstrated just how serious it was about cracking down on migration by sending 81 Afghan nationals back to their homeland, prompting an outcry from rights organisations. Amnesty International criticised the deportations, saying the situation in Afghanistan was 'catastrophic' and that 'extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture are commonplace'.Europe's top economy had stopped deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban movement's return to power in 2021. But Berlin resumed expulsions last year when the previous government of Olaf Scholz expelled 28 convicted Afghans. Current Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended the expulsions of the 81 Afghan men, saying he was 'grateful' to be able to deliver on promises made when entering government in May. None of those deported 'had a residence status any more. All asylum applications were legally rejected without further legal recourse', he said at a news conference. Bavaria state's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said 15 of the deported Afghans had been incarcerated for crimes, including murder and manslaughter, sexual offences and property crimes. The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said 13 Afghans deported from there had been jailed for crimes including homicide, bodily harm, drug offences and serious arson. In the wake of the announcement, the United Nations said no one should be sent back to Afghanistan, whatever their status. The UN human rights commissioner called for an 'immediate halt to the forcible return of all Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers', highlighting the risks faced by the daily Crossword
Japan Today
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
Germany and EU allies push for asylum crackdown and more deportations
European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, Danish Minister of Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior Daniela Ludwig, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, and Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan meet to discuss migration policies, during Zugspitze Summit, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth By Jörn Poltz and Riham Alkousaa Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and five European counterparts agreed on a set of goals on Friday to tighten asylum rules in the bloc, including allowing deportations to Afghanistan and Syria. The meeting at Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitze, follows Berlin's decision in May to reject asylum seekers at the border, a policy it said was coordinated with neighboring countries but drew significant criticism. It comes almost exactly a decade after former German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country's borders to nearly a million refugees fleeing war and persecution, a landmark decision that reshaped European politics. Dobrindt met counterparts from France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, as well as EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner. The agreed asylum policy goals, which require approval from Brussels, include removing legislative obstacles to transferring rejected asylum seekers to secure centers outside the EU and enabling asylum procedures in third countries. Germany's new government has already placed curbs on migration including suspending family reunification and resettlement programs, as it seeks to regain support from voters drawn to the far-right Alternative for Germany, which made historic gains in February's federal election. On Friday Germany deported 81 Afghan men to Afghanistan. "We are all concerned that the overburdening of our countries by illegal migration is also contributing massively to the polarization of society. We want to push back this polarization," Dobrindt said. Deportations to countries such as Afghanistan and Syria should be reinstated as standard practice, with citizens from countries failing to cooperate on deportations to face visa restrictions, a joint declaration said. Trade, and development aid will also be used as leverage to boost returns and strengthen migration cooperation, the document said, pressing for increasing deployment of drones and more EU funding for border infrastructure and personnel. The countries agreed to combat smugglers and work to dismantle human trafficking networks. Asylum seekers who have already been granted protection in another EU country will be quickly rejected if they claim asylum elsewhere in the bloc. "Once we seal the external border, there will be no need for internal border controls," Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said. Siemoniak said he discussed the border controls Germany introduced unilaterally at its border with Dobrindt, adding that Poland is ready to waive the controls at its border once Germany does the same. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
a day ago
- Politics
- First Post
Germany's Dobrindt, EU ministers propose radical shift in asylum policy to ease migration strain
The meeting at Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitze, follows Berlin's decision in May to reject asylum seekers at the border, a policy it said was coordinated with neighbouring countries but drew significant criticism read more European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner, Danish Minister of Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior Daniela Ludwig, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, and Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan meet to discuss migration policies, during Zugspitze Summit, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Reuters Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and five European counterparts agreed on a set of goals on Friday to tighten asylum rules in the bloc, including allowing deportations to Afghanistan and Syria. The meeting at Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitze, follows Berlin's decision in May to reject asylum seekers at the border, a policy it said was coordinated with neighbouring countries but drew significant criticism. It comes almost exactly a decade after former German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country's borders to nearly a million refugees fleeing war and persecution, a landmark decision that reshaped European politics. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Dobrindt met counterparts from France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, as well as EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner. The agreed asylum policy goals, which require approval from Brussels, include removing legislative obstacles to transferring rejected asylum seekers to secure centres outside the EU and enabling asylum procedures in third countries. Germany's new government has already placed curbs on migration including suspending family reunification and resettlement programmes, as it seeks to regain support from voters drawn to the far-right Alternative for Germany, which made historic gains in February's federal election. On Friday Germany deported 81 Afghan men to Afghanistan. 'We are all concerned that the overburdening of our countries by illegal migration is also contributing massively to the polarization of society. We want to push back this polarization,' Dobrindt said. Deportations to countries such as Afghanistan and Syria should be reinstated as standard practice, with citizens from countries failing to cooperate on deportations to face visa restrictions, a joint declaration said. Trade, and development aid will also be used as leverage to boost returns and strengthen migration cooperation, the document said, pressing for increasing deployment of drones and more EU funding for border infrastructure and personnel. The countries agreed to combat smugglers and work to dismantle human trafficking networks. Asylum seekers who have already been granted protection in another EU country will be quickly rejected if they claim asylum elsewhere in the bloc. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Once we seal the external border, there will be no need for internal border controls,' Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said. Siemoniak said he discussed the border controls Germany introduced unilaterally at its border with Dobrindt, adding that Poland is ready to waive the controls at its border once Germany does the same.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Germany and EU allies push for ‘tougher, stricter' asylum rules
Germany's interior minister has hosted five of his European counterparts to discuss ways of tightening the region's asylum rules, as his country deported 81 Afghans to their Taliban-controlled homeland. The European Union's immigration system needed to be 'tougher and stricter', Minister Alexander Dobrindt said after Friday's meeting in southern Germany with the interior ministers of France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Denmark, as well as EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner. The cohort issued a five-page communique on their aims, which included the establishment of 'return hubs' for holding people outside the EU, enabling asylum procedures in third countries, and allowing deportations to Afghanistan and Syria as standard practice. All measures would require approval from Brussels. 'When we analyse what has been agreed here, it's lofty ambitions, but not much detail about how they intend to pursue what's in these five pages,' said Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin. Ministers, he said, had talked about 'the sorts of things that they agree on, but they know they can't implement them themselves as unilateral decisions.' Speaking after the meeting, Dobrindt said, 'We wanted to send a signal that Germany is no longer sitting in the brakeman's cab on migration issues in Europe, but is in the locomotive.' Afghans deported Hours before the meeting, Germany demonstrated just how serious it was about cracking down on migration by sending 81 Afghan nationals back to their homeland, prompting an outcry from rights organisations. Amnesty International criticised the deportations, saying the situation in Afghanistan was 'catastrophic' and that 'extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture are commonplace'. Europe's top economy had stopped deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban movement's return to power in 2021. But Berlin resumed expulsions last year when the previous government of Olaf Scholz expelled 28 convicted Afghans. Current Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended the expulsions of the 81 Afghan men, saying he was 'grateful' to be able to deliver on promises made when entering government in May. None of those deported 'had a residence status any more. All asylum applications were legally rejected without further legal recourse', he said at a news conference. Bavaria state's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said 15 of the deported Afghans had been incarcerated for crimes, including murder and manslaughter, sexual offences and property crimes. The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said 13 Afghans deported from there had been jailed for crimes including homicide, bodily harm, drug offences and serious arson. In the wake of the announcement, the United Nations said no one should be sent back to Afghanistan, whatever their status. The UN human rights commissioner called for an 'immediate halt to the forcible return of all Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers', highlighting the risks faced by returnees.
Euractiv
a day ago
- Politics
- Euractiv
EU ministers push for returns to Syria and Afghanistan at high-altitude summit
Atop Germany's snow-capped Zugspitze, EU interior ministers declared that 'returns to Afghanistan and Syria must be possible' in a declaration on migration that did not mince its words on Friday. The self-styled 'coalition of the willing' led by German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and joined by France, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Czechia as well as EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner, signed off on a hardline declaration calling for tougher migration rules across the EU. The group wants faster and easier return mechanisms for irregular migrants and insists that deportations to Afghanistan and Syria 'must be possible'. The declaration also called for Frontex's mandate to be strengthened to assist EU countries with returns to hubs in third countries, including a mandate to conduct returns from third countries such as the Western Balkans. Earlier on Friday, Berlin deported a group of convicted criminals to Taliban-run Afghanistan, the first such deportation since 2024 and the first one under Merz's government. Returns and deportations are a "gap in the reorganisation of the migration system," Dobrindt said, adding it was "where we need to do more". His Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner struck a triumphant tone after the meeting, pointing to 'new opportunities' recently created. Austria in early July deported a convicted man to Syria in an EU first after the fall of the Assad regime, and Germany follows suit with deportations to Afghanistan. 'These are all enormously important steps toward a credible asylum policy in Europe, if we can also return criminals to their countries of origin,' Karner said. Back in December, Brussels had still taken a far more cautious line. The European Commission reaffirmed its position then that, despite political changes in Syria, the conditions for safe, voluntary, and dignified returns were still not in place, echoing the assessment of the UN refugee agency. Member states also committed to 'carefully analyse' European Court of Human Rights rulings on asylum, a nod to the Danish-Italian letter that helped spark the current debate. EU ministers will reconvene next week in full 27-member format for the informal Justice and Home Affairs meeting in Copenhagen, where subjects including irregular migration and beefing up the return system are high on the agenda. (vib)
