Introduction | Zuwanderung, Flucht und Asyl: Aktuelle Themen | bpb.de

On the one hand, it became obvious that neither federal authorities nor the Länder (federal states) and municipalities were adequately prepared to react to the growing influx of asylum seekers, particularly with regard to providing sufficient capacities for accommodation. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which is responsible for processing asylum applications, had to deal with an increasing backlog. On the other hand, asylum seekers became subject to suspicions of "asylum abuse," and a number of political measures were adopted to tighten German asylum policy, which is rather generous compared to other countries. Among other things, these restrictions reflected concerns that liberal asylum policies serve as a pull factor, motivating refugees resident in other European countries to move onward to Germany.

This reveals the transnational dimension of refugee policy: asylum law, is now nearly completely Europeanized and laid down in detailed minimum standards, and is subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (EJC) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The scope to adopt restrictive measures at the national level is therefore limited. The Dublin Regulation determines the EU Member State responsible for examining an asylum application. At the same time, the European Union holds collective responsibility for its external borders – and therefore also for refugee tragedies in the Mediterranean, and for the protection of civil war refugees from Syria. An analysis of German asylum law and policy must therefore take into account the common European policy of refugee protection. It has to focus on two aspects: on the one hand, the empirically observable refugee flows, and, on the other hand, the reaction of individual states or the international community towards this form of migration. In view of the latter, Germany (and to an even greater extent the EU) will have to face multiple challenges in the coming years.

As a starting point, this policy brief provides an overview on international asylum law, which constitutes the framework for national provisions for refugee protection, followed by a summary of forms of humanitarian protection. Second, the paper discusses asylum law, refugee policy and humanitarian migration in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the efforts made within the EU to harmonize the policy field of refuge and asylum. Finally, the dossier addresses current developments in Germany, and ends with a preview of future European challenges with regard to refugee protection.

This text is part of the policy brief Interner Link: German Asylum Policy and EU Refugee Protection: The Prospects of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).