What are the accelerated airport procedures to be introduced in Germany?

The German federal cabinet this week approved a draft law to implement parts of the new Common European Asylum System (CEAS). One of these is the so-called accelerated border procedure. This is a provision of the CEAS that will enable fast-track asylum processing and speedy return of people who arrive at the borders from “safe countries of origin”. Because the only way a migrant can arrive in Germany directly from a country outside the Schengen Zone is by plane or boat, the new measures affect procedures at German airports.

How the system has worked so far

Germany already has special procedures for undocumented migrants from countries on an official list of safe origin countries – which currently includes EU member states plus 10 countries – who ask for asylum at the airport.

The law states that even though they have arrived on German soil, they are legally outside Germany and have to remain in a transit area within the airport.

Under the current regulations, people whose applications are processed in this transit area can be held for a maximum of 19 days.

How will the ‘airport procedure’ change?

The new regulation in effect extends the definition of safe countries of origin.

In future, countries will be included as “safe” if the recognition rate – the proportion of applicants from that country granted protection in Germany – is under 20 percent. According to the interior ministry, this is the case for a “large number of countries of origin.”

In fact, figures from the Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) show that from the list of the main countries of origin of asylum seekers in Germany, the only group of nationals with significant numbers in this category are applicants from Turkey, for whom the protection rate last year was around ten percent.

The airport procedure will also apply to people who pose a danger to national security or public order, and those who falsify their identity. Unaccompanied minors will not be subject to airport procedures unless they are considered a security risk. The procedure does apply to children with a family member, however.

People will stay in the transit areas for much longer after the measures announced this week come into effect: under the new regulation, they can be held for eight to as many as 12 weeks, plus a further 12-week procedure for a so-called “return procedure”, which follows if the person’s asylum application is rejected.

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Sending an important signal in Europe

Only a small number of asylum seekers arrive in Germany by air. In 2023, there were 402 airport procedures, and in 2022 there were 347, according to BAMF.

While this means it is less onerous for Germany to implement the new external border procedures than for Greece, Italy, Spain or Hungary, which see far more arrivals from third countries, Germany announced with pride that it is the first EU country to implement the new CEAS regulations.

Nancy Faeser, Germany’s interior minister, wants to see changes ahead of the deadline nearly two years away. “We are sending an important signal in Europe that Germany is implementing the new law quickly and comprehensively,” a press release from the German interior ministry quotes her as saying.

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Human rights concerns

The accelerated border procedures – more than any other aspect of the CEAS reform – have been heavily criticized.

Clara Bünger, an MP from the German Left Party, says providing a definition of safe countries of origin in the new regulation allows for states to be declared supposedly safe “via a back door.” Bünger also highlighted a concern about the fact that the government was “evading” scrutiny of the changes by the parliament.

Others remain worried about the provision in the new border procedures for detention – potentially for up to six months – of asylum seekers, including children and vulnerable people. This goes against the Geneva Convention, says Anna Suerhoff, a research assistant at the German Institute for Human Rights, in a statement on the implementation of the reform.

The German interior ministry says that people will only be detained under an individual court order if, for example, they are considered a flight risk and if there are no less severe measures available. It is not clear in the ministry’s statement how authorities will manage this legal requirement.

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With EPD, DPA