5/20/2023 5:59 pm (act. 5/20/2023 5:59 pm)
Karner meets ministerial colleagues from Germany and Denmark. ©APA/EVA MANHART
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner will discuss the reform of European asylum and migration policy with other ministers from Germany and Denmark next week.
Karner will visit German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in Berlin on Thursday and Danish Migration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek will visit Vienna on Friday. The subject of the talks is the ongoing difficult negotiations for a comprehensive reform of Europe’s asylum and migration policy.
Debates on the asylum and migration pact
In the run-up to meeting Faeser on Saturday, Karner was pleased that the German government was looking into asylum procedures outside the EU. “We see that our proposals are being adopted by more and more EU countries. The German interior minister, for example, sees the need to anchor asylum procedures in safe third countries and fast procedures at the EU’s external borders in the asylum pact and migration “, said the Interior Minister in a broadcast. According to the Interior Ministry, the meeting with the SPD politician should also be about how to make the protection of the EU’s external borders more robust.
Denmark, for its part, is “a pioneer in trying to carry out asylum procedures in safe third countries”, praised the Ministry of the Interior on Saturday. Karner also wants to show the Danish Migration Minister the Austrian border protection measures at the Hungarian border in Burgenland during his visit on Friday.
Karner sees Denmark as a model for migration policy
Denmark has had an extremely restrictive migration policy for years. The withdrawal of residence permits for Syrian refugees, for example, has drawn criticism. In January, the Danish government suspended a controversial project to house asylum seekers while their applications were examined in third countries outside the EU. Instead, Denmark is now pushing for an EU-wide solution.
The EU’s asylum and migration pact, which has been the subject of debate for years, is on the agenda at the June 8 meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg. With a view to next year’s European elections, time is running out for a quick deal.