Germany to focus on border security in EU presidency
February 4, 2020
Germany's interior minister said securing an EU-wide asylum policy is "at least equally important" as the bloc's plan to fight climate change. Berlin is poised to take over the EU's rotating presidency later this year.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Hoppe
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Cross-border data-sharing and asylum policies will be a priority when Germany takes over the European Union's rotating presidency this year, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday.
"I intend for us to make security a central tenet of the German presidency," Seehofer said on the first day of the European Police Congress in Berlin.
The interior minister urged for the new European Commission to make agreeing on EU-wide asylum policies as much a priority as its ambitious plan to combat climate change.
"I have a lot of appreciation for the Green Deal and I also agree with it — but a common, European asylum policy is at least equally important for Europe's future," the interior minister said.
Seehofer has clashed with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Germany's asylum policy in the past, with the interior minister advocating for stricter measures and controls. Germany will take over the six-month EU presidency in July.
Lesbos wants to get back to normal
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EU border agency plans 'terribly' far away
Seehofer criticized the bloc's current asylum policies, which require asylum-seekers to be sent back to the EU countries where they were first registered under the so-called Dublin Regulation.
"We do not even get a response to our letters from most of these states," he said.
Many migrants and refugees first enter the EU via Italy, Greece, where conditions in severely overcrowded camps have deteriorated in recent months.
The interior minister also praised Germany's tighter border controls and called on the EU to speed up its plans to boost the workforce of the EU border agency Frontex.
He called the current plans to increase the number of Frontex staff to 10,000 by 2027 "a terribly far-away date."
Germany tightened security and surveillance on its borders in November, with Seehofer saying that "several hundred people" have been caught trying to re-enter Germany despite being barred from doing so.
This year, so far, has seen a huge influx of refugees arriving in Lesbos. Conditions in the Moria camp are steadily becoming worse and refugees are often left to their own devices.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
A view from above
Moria refugee camp has a capacity of 3,000. Currently, some 14,500 refugees are squeezed into the infamous refugee camp, Greece's largest reception and identification center.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
Deep wounds
A large majority of those who live in Moria have been deemed as vulnerable and are in need of immediate medical assistance. This girl from Gaza, who lives with her family in a tent in the olive grove outside Moria, was severely injured when an Israeli rocket hit her home.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
A false dawn?
In August more than 2,800 people arrived in dinghies on the island of Lesbos. A boat carrying 40 people was brought into the port of Skala Sikamineas after it was intercepted by Frontex, the EU's border agency. Eight women and 18 children, including five unaccompanied minors, were on board along with 14 men, all from Afghanistan.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
The wait begins
After the women and children have been transferred to a transit camp, 18 men wait to be taken away to the same camp by the authorities. Volunteers with the NGO Lighthouse relief assist the authorities in providing food and water to those who have recently arrived.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
Keeping the tradition alive
An Afghan woman makes bread in a makeshift underground oven which she then sells for €1 ($1.10) to other refugees. Due to deteriorating conditions and food provisions that are below standard quality many refugees who remain for long in the camp of Moria have found new ways to pass the day and remember home.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
A soothing hand
Countless refugees need urgent medical attention. Doctors without Borders operate an emergency clinic opposite Moria for the most urgent cases, as the main camp currently only has one doctor and the hospital of Mytilene is overwhelmed and in some cases unwilling to treat refugees.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
Discarded dreams
A "graveyard" of life jackets and boats on the island's north is a stark reminder of the last huge influx of refugees in 2015/16. Lesbos has been at the center of the refugee crisis for years as thousands of people have landed on its shores. Currently there are more than 11,000 refugees spread across the islands. That number is expected to rise sharply by the end of the year.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
Monotonous routine
Waiting in line has become the main daily activity for those stuck in Moria limbo — even for children. Some wait for hours in order to receive food and water.
Image: DW/D. Tosidis
From the frying pan into the fire
A group of refugees prepares to board a ship which will take them to mainland Greece. After the sudden arrival of 600 people in one night, the Greek government decided to transfer 1,400 people to the mainland. Most were taken to the camp of Nea Kavala in a remote village in northern Greece.
