Ten points for Europe
German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel call for a harmonised EU asylum policy.
JOINTLY ON BEHALF OF REFUGEES
Countless refugees from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Eritrea or Albania are fleeing to the European Union each day to escape acts of terror, war, political persecution and poverty. Many of them seek their fortune in Germany. The German Federal government expects that 2015 will see a record number of 800,000 refugees arrive in the country. Never before in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany have so many asylum seekers come to Germany in a single year. The influx of refugees is a major challenge for all of Europe. German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel are therefore calling for a harmonised EU policy on asylum. In an article for Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung they published a paper with a Ten Point Plan and called for a European Asylum Code that would guarantee refugees a EU-wide status. The focus is on “binding and objectively comprehensible criteria for acceptance quotas in all member states.” The two also advocate a reform of the Dublin procedure that regulates the admission of refugees in Europe, and for a German immigration law.
