Sharing Burdens: Germany to Urge Shift in EU Refugee Policy

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-to-urge-shift-in-eu-refugee-policy-a-993076.html



The number of asylum-seekers in Germany is growing rapidly and many towns and cities are struggling to house them. The country's interior minister is pushing for changes to the EU's refugee policies in an effort to share the burden across the continent.

Sharing Burdens: Germany to Urge Shift in EU Refugee Policy
By SPIEGEL Staff
September 22, 2014 – 05:45 PM

Recently, German Interior Minister Thomas de Mazière spent the better part of an hour patiently answering questions from high school and college students. Most of them were about development and asylum policy, with the students voicing extreme criticism of the policy whereby economic refugees are treated differently from those trying to escape political persecution.

Finally, de Mazière had had enough. "Now I want to say something," he said, leaning forward in his leather chair and staring directly at one of the students. "We're sitting high and dry here, but try going to an area like Rosenheim (near Munich), where ... a gymnasium has to be requisitioned (as temporary housing). Try talking about refugee policies with the parents of school children there." The specter is one that has faced many German communities in recent months as the country has dealt with a fast-soaring influx of refugees.

For a moment the room fell silent. That same day, news had broken that around 500 refugees had perished in a single accident as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean. And all Germany's interior minister wanted to talk about were the gymnasiums that had been requisitioned for temporary accommodations? For some students, it was too much.

No matter how the problem is approached, though, it is clear is that the global refugee drama has arrived in Germany. In 2013, 130,000 people applied for asylum in Germany, close to one-third of all asylum applications in the European Union. This year, the number is expected to surpass the 200,000 mark, a surge reminiscent of a major wave of refugees that hit Europe in the early 1990s. Some cities don't know how to handle the influx, providing an opportunity for right-wing populists and their xenophobic sentiment.