The Western Balkans and the German asylum system

2023-11-03 11:40:38, Kosova & Bota CNA

A few days before the crisis meeting between the prime ministers of the states and Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the subject of refugees and asylum seekers, which aims to prevent the arrival of people who do not have the right to asylum, as well as the deportation of those who have been rejected, the German media reports on stories of repeated requests for asylum from citizens of the Western Balkans.

The Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel and several other German media, including Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bild, write that there are still a large number of citizens of the countries of the Western Balkans, i.e. from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia, who are seeking asylum. repeatedly, although it is almost impossible to resolve these requests positively.

"Famous Surnames"

The Western Balkans and the German asylum system

Many citizens from the countries of the Western Balkans seek asylum almost every year

"From a few names, the workers at the refugee reception center in Berlin already know what comes next: zero chance of being granted asylum. But these requests are followed by several months of social assistance and in the end the request is rejected. The year next time, the same story repeats itself," writes Tagesspiegel, citing sources in several German states.

"Mainly in the spring, immigrants return to their countries of origin, spend the summer there and return in the fall to apply for asylum again," writes the German daily. This is possible because of the German asylum law, which does not limits the number of asylum applications for the same person. Because, as argued, since the last application made and rejected, the situation may have changed for the applicant and it is necessary to give him a new opportunity and reconsider the application. " We have cases where the same person makes a request seven or eight times", says an employee of the reception center.

Annual shift between the Balkans and Germany

Many citizens from the countries of the Western Balkans seek asylum only because of aid

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) talks about 13,000 repeated applications this year alone. The largest majority of applicants come from the mentioned countries of the Western Balkans, even though these countries have been declared as safe countries of origin since the middle of the last decade. And this makes it almost impossible for a person from these countries to receive a positive response to their asylum request. The percentage of asylum requests resolved positively for the citizens of these countries is below one percent.

"Entire families from these countries move every year between their countries of origin and accommodation for asylum seekers in Germany," an employee of the reception center in the state of Lower Saxony reports to Tagesspiegel. Travel is also possible due to the lifting of the visa regime, because (except for Kosovo) the citizens of these countries can go wherever they want in the countries of the European Union. The number of asylum seekers from the Balkans is still high despite the employment programs for residents of the Western Balkans, which Germany introduced in 2015 and which enable relatively easy employment in Germany.

It is currently being discussed whether refugees and asylum seekers should receive social assistance, and this assistance for families with several children can amount to over two thousand euros per month (in cash), or they also receive vouchers for food and other needs. Removing these aids, as more and more politicians believe, would reduce the attractiveness of Germany for asylum seekers.

Another problem is the fact that these repeated requests burden the services for processing requests, which are already at the limit of their capacity due to the increase in the number of refugees from other countries such as Ukraine, Turkey, Syria and Afghanistan. / DW