Migration specialists criticize the decision by Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) to extend border controls until the following September and to continue turning away migrants.
Danielle Thym, a migration researcher at the University of Konstanz, told the “Welt” on Tuesday that the legal footing for refusals is becoming very weak as of this summer. With the new EU asylum rules the argument that Germany needs to refuse arrivals because the Dublin system is ineffective no longer holds up.
Starting in June, the Common European Asylum System (GEAS) will come into force. It is aimed at limiting migration into Europe and curbing unchecked internal movement within the Union. Constantin Hruschka, a professor of social law at Evangelical University Freiburg, also condemned the measures. “I have long regarded the recent extension in May – and the one introduced by the traffic‑light coalition – as unlawful. That view has not changed” he said.
Hruschka sees no crisis posed by current asylum figures. He warns that Germany’s unilateral approach endangers the fragile, controversial path that has just been forged in European migration policy. The border controls also strain the economy, which suffers from the restrictions in cross‑border traffic.