EU asylum reform negotiations enter next round

EU asylum reform negotiations enter next round

EU-level negotiations on a reform of the common asylum system will enter another, potentially decisive, round on Monday. Talks between negotiators from the European Parliament and EU states could last until the early hours of Tuesday night. It is not yet clear whether there will be a compromise in the end.

Among others, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser have recently emphasized the importance of a quick agreement. This is a “final political agreement”, Faeser told the “Frankfurter Rundschau” (Monday edition) and was “confident that we will succeed”. Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) recently warned in the National Council against a weakening of the package that EU interior ministers had agreed on this year.

The planned asylum reform aims, among other things, to limit irregular migration. For example, if there is a particularly strong increase in migration, the period during which people can be held in prison-like conditions should be extended. There are concerns about these plans in the European Parliament.

Time is of the essence: projects that have not been negotiated with Member State governments by the European elections in June 2024 could then be called into question again and postponed for a long time. In the case of the planned reform of the asylum system, this would represent a particularly large setback. The project has been in the works for years.