In the run-up to important EU consultations on a possible compromise on asylum policy, German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has come out in support of the position taken by his party colleague Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the question of processing asylum claims at the EU's external borders.

Baerbock previously stated that she wants families with children to be exempt from possible preliminary checks of asylum applications at the EU's external borders. Border procedures are "without question problematic," Habeck said, according to a statement released in the early hours of Monday morning.

"Border procedures need limits. People need to be accommodated and cared for. They may only be there for a short time. Families with children, pregnant women should be exempted."

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Asylum reform

EU interior ministers are meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday (June 8) to discuss the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) which has faced years of controversy. Among other things, the discussion will include the question of whether there should be preliminary checks of asylum applications at the EU's external borders. The government wants to ensure that minors under 18 and families with children do not have to go through these procedures.

Baerbock has also expressed her views accordingly. The original proposal of the European Commission already says: "Unaccompanied children and children under 12 years of age with their family members are exempt from the border procedure, provided there are no security concerns."

Baerbock told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe that the Commission's proposal was the only chance of achieving an "orderly and humane distribution procedure."

"That is why we are negotiating hard in Brussels to make sure that no one gets stuck in the border procedure for more than a few weeks, that families with children will not be subject to this process, and that the right to asylum is not eroded at its core."

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Inhumane conditions

Habeck noted the EU consultations offer a "realistic chance to find a way to establish a humane and orderly distribution mechanism and to offer protection and a perspective to asylum seekers who are fleeing war and torture and are seeking safety in Europe," Habeck continued. "And I think Annalena Baerbock is right: that working on creating this will be worthwhile."

"We have not had a functioning European asylum system for many years, with the result that people drown in the Mediterranean, that families are stuck for years in inhumane conditions in camps at the borders," Habeck complained. Too often, he said, EU countries are left alone at the external borders.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) supports the plan for border procedures too, and also told German newspaper Handelsblatt: "We want to give special protection to children and other vulnerable groups."

These EU deliberations are being held in response to the increased number of new arrivals in the bloc. For months, many migrants have been trying to reach southern Italy from North Africa across the Mediterranean. According to data from Rome, more than 50,000 migrants have arrived in Italy on boats since January.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR, has stated that more than 980 people have died or gone missing in crossings since the beginning of the year. In Germany, approximately 100,000 asylum applications were received by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in the first four months of this year, an increase of around 78%.

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With dpa