The proposed EU solidarity mechanism for asylum seekers is facing significant pushback, particularly from within the German governing coalition, raising serious questions about its viability and potential for equitable burden-sharing. Alexander Throm, the CDU’s interior policy spokesperson, voiced strong reservations, asserting that Germany will not accept asylum seekers transferred from other EU member states until all nations demonstrably fulfill their existing legal obligations regarding returns.
Throm’s criticism centers on the persistent failure of the Dublin Regulation, the framework governing responsibility for asylum claims. He highlighted a systemic problem: “Our EU partners have, for years, neglected their responsibility to take back asylum seekers who have illegally continued their journey beyond their borders. These Dublin transfers simply aren’t functioning”. The consequences, he argues, are acutely felt in Germany, which currently hosts a disproportionately high number of asylum seekers compared to other EU countries. This imbalance, he contends, renders a solidarity mechanism premature and potentially unfair.
The European Commission is scheduled to release a comprehensive report on the migration situation within the EU on October 15th, including an assessment of member states facing elevated migration pressures. This evaluation will be a crucial factor in determining who benefits from the new, mandatory solidarity mechanism, which could include relocation programs for asylum seekers.
While the SPD’s Sonja Eichwede emphasized the necessity of collaborative solutions and places faith in the solidarity mechanism as a legally enshrined commitment within the new European asylum system, her optimism is tempered by the realities on the ground. She acknowledges the need for detailed negotiations on the mechanisms’ design, insisting that “solidarity is never a one-way street; there must be a system of give and take for all sides.
The German Interior Ministry spokesperson echoed Throm’s concerns, stating that Germany anticipates the Commission’s report with interest. However, they stressed the significant strain on Germany’s reception and integration capacities – a direct result of consistently high asylum seeker arrivals since 2015 – and warned that this factor needs to be explicitly considered in any assessment of the country’s potential contribution to the solidarity pool scheduled to be finalized in December 2025.
The divergent views within the German government, coupled with the ongoing dysfunctionality of existing return procedures, indicate that the EU’s new solidarity mechanism faces a rocky implementation, potentially exacerbating tensions between member states and questioning the feasibility of achieving a truly equitable distribution of responsibility for asylum seekers across the bloc. The crucial question remains whether the mechanism can be adapted to address the systemic failures it’s intended to compensate for, or whether it will simply become another symbolic gesture in a perpetually strained relationship.