Germany is lagging behind in preparations for an EU migration reform due to take effect next month, according to a report from the European Commission released on Friday.
In the report, the European Union’s executive body says 15 EU countries have already established “adequate capacity for the border procedures,” while urging Germany and 10 other member states to “urgently” build up capacity for asylum procedures at borders, for example, at airports.
Germany is also deemed to lack the necessary resources for the initial screening of asylum seekers, which includes health checks. Europe’s largest economy must also resolve issues with the reform’s central biometric database Eurodac, the report states.
The paper notes that Germany is one of the few member states to have already completed the necessary reforms to its national legislation, but says it must still address its backlog in processing asylum applications.
The EU reform, the Pact on Migration and Asylum, is set to take effect on June 12 and is intended to distribute asylum seekers more fairly among member states and speed up processing time for applications.
The planned border procedures are considered a crucial component of the reform to prevent so-called secondary migration – the movement of asylum seekers from one EU country to another.
The pact provides for asylum seekers’ applications to be processed at the first EU external border reached and for refugees with little chance of asylum to be detained and, if necessary, deported from there.
Countries with EU external borders and particularly high numbers of asylum seekers are to receive support from other member states.
The report notes, however, that Bulgaria, Greece and Italy – which register the highest numbers of irregular border crossings according to the EU agency Frontex – do not have the necessary capacity to carry out border procedures.
The European Commission stressed that progress has been made and that not everything will work immediately in June.
“While we are on the right track, there is still work ahead to ensure we are gaining full control over who can come to the EU and who must leave,” said the EU commissioner for internal affairs and migration, Magnus Brunner. “The Pact is not the end of the process – it is the start.”