Germany hopes for EU deal on sending failed asylum seekers to third countries

31/5/2025 13:41

Germany's interior minister is hoping the European Union can reach a bloc-wide agreement on sending failed asylum seekers who cannot go home to safe countries near their original homelands.



Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives won February's national election on a promise to bring down immigration levels, which opinion polls showed many voters regarded as being out of control, although numbers have been falling for over a year.



In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the approach of using third countries could work only if there was a Europe-wide consensus.



He told the newspaper, "We need third countries that are prepared to take migrants who are objectively unable to return to their home countries."



Earlier this month, the EU's executive Commission proposed a scheme that would let member states reject asylum applications from migrants who passed through a "safe" third country on their way to the bloc. The proposals, criticised by rights groups, have yet to be adopted by national governments or the European Parliament.