Germany has finally decided to resort to one of the cornerstones of EU migration management policy — the so-called Dublin Procedures.
The Dublin Procedures established the principle that the first EU country a migrant or refugee entered was the one responsible for processing their asylum claim. So, if they subsequently moved to another one, they could be returned to the country of entry.
Greece could be the only country Germany may allow to waive the provision of the Dublin Procedures, which elsewhere will apply to all refugees, including Syrians.
The new policy is an attempt by Angela Merkel’s government to bring the refugee crisis under control as Germany struggles to cope with an expected influx of 800,000 this year alone.
The European migrant crisis arose through the rising number of refugees and migrants coming to the European Union from the Middle East and North Africa. As of October 2015, the top three nationalities of the over half a million Mediterranean Sea arrivals since the beginning of the year are Syrian (53%), Afghan (16%) and Eritrean (6%).
The European Commission considers the current migrant crisis the biggest since World War II.
