In a joint article on the asylum system in the EU published in the German daily “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, they assessed that the EU should work on developing joint policy on asylum, refugees and migration, and proposed a ten item agenda through which this can be done, the news agency MINA carried.
In the article, Mr Gabriel and Mr Steinmeier reminded that Europe was facing major challenges related to immigration, adding that it had never happened before that so many people were fleeing due to political persecution and war.
According to them, it is clear that solutions that have been applied so far have not reached the standards that Europe must set.
They stressed that the issue could be postponed and Europe had to react immediately and implement policies on asylum, refugees and migration grounded on the principle of solidarity.
“All Western Balkan countries are aspiring to EU membership, and we have a good basis to expand the Union and include them. This means that we cannot treat those countries as countries of persecution at the same time”, they said in the text.
Mr Gabriel and Mr Steinmeier stressed that the criteria according to which a state could be considered safe should be the same at the level of the entire EU.
“In the future, EU candidate country should be considered a safe country of origin in the entire EU”, they said.
The two officials added that the standards of the asylum system had to be harmonised in all EU member states and that a cohesive policy on asylum was needed.
They also pointed to the necessity of fair distribution of migrants in Europe, because only that could guarantee long term asylum policy.
In their article, Mr Gabriel and Mr Steinmeier emphasised that it was necessary to urgently help countries that are currently under the heaviest burden of migration.
“The EU and its member states must be more efficient and offer practical and financial support to countries that have accepted refugees,” they stressed.
Pointing to the accidents that increasingly often occur in the Mediterranean, they emphasised the efforts to organise sea rescue operations next spring.
“We have to consolidate these efforts across Europe and in the long run to ensure necessary capacities in the EU,” the German ministers said.
They assessed that returning of refugees should be a priority in relations with the countries of their origin.
Mr Gabriel and Mr Steinmeier said that Germany needed an official document on migration and policies that would reduce the burden created by asylum.
“A comprehensive policy on asylum, refugees and migration also requires new political initiatives in order to face and deal with the causes of leaving the countries of the Middle East and Africa”, they added.
Germany, as concluded, was ready to continue to encourage the development of a common refugee policy based on the principle of solidarity.
