BERLIN,Germany (LP Correspondent) -A recent official response from the German government revealed that more than 40,000 individuals seeking protection in Germany have already sought asylum in different European Union countries. According to data released by German authorities, during the first nine months of this year, 44,744 people who applied for asylum in Germany had previously done so in another EU member state. In the same time frame, approximately 251,000 people registered with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf).
Notably, nearly 234,000 of these protection requests were initial applications, indicating that a significant portion of applicants was new to the asylum process.
The inquiry into this matter came from Leif-Erik Holm, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, hailing from the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
As per the EU’s Dublin Regulation, asylum seekers should be registered in the first EU country they enter, and that country should handle their asylum applications. However, in practice, this system has been only partially effective. One example is Italy, which currently resists adhering to the Dublin rules, largely due to the substantial influx of new arrivals by sea. The German government noted that Italy executed merely nine Dublin transfers in the first half of the year.
Between January and the end of September, approximately 3,800 individuals were returned to another EU member state under the Dublin rules, as reported by the German Interior Ministry. These issues with implementing the Dublin system contribute to ongoing negotiations in Brussels concerning a reform of the Common European Asylum System.
