So far, many German states have reacted with great caution to the possibility that the Bundestag created on Friday allows the establishment of secondary migration centres for asylum seekers. Those applicants should, according to the Dublin regulation, normally be processed in another EU country. A survey by the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” shows this hesitation.
A spokesperson for North Rhine‑Westphalia’s Minister for Refugees and Integration, Verena Schäffer (Green Party), told the RND: “There are still many open questions, for example how to cooperate with other EU member states”. She added that her ministry has long been calling on the federal government to centralise responsibility for so‑called Dublin cases, but “so far, little has happened. The federal government remains required”.
In Bremen, Innensenator Eva Högl (SPD) explained to the RND that whether there is a real need “must first be demonstrated in the concrete implementation of the Common European Asylum System (GEAS). In small states like the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen it is not obvious”. A spokesperson for Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister, Daniela Behrens (SPD), agreed in a similarly restrained tone, saying that the state is “open, in principle, to create a secondary migration centre, but only if a real added value in the return process can be achieved”.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) commented that “once the necessary legal prerequisites are created, the Bavarian state government will examine the options available in more detail”.
The possibility to set up secondary migration centres was included in the national implementation of the Common European Asylum System that the Bundestag approved on Friday. The centres would house asylum seekers who have already received protection status in another EU state or are subject to Dublin rules for their asylum proceedings. The federal law permits states to forbid adult, deportable refugees from leaving these centres for twelve months. For children and their legal guardians, nighttime movement restrictions may be imposed.
After the parliamentary decision, the party‑affiliated spokesman for the Bundestag’s CDU/CSU group, Alexander Throm, said: “We expect all states to establish such centres now”.