Overview
- The interior ministry told MPs that the new EU asylum regulation will govern both ongoing and new German asylum cases when the EU rules take effect, reversing the contradictory wording in Germany’s transposition law.
- The contradiction arose from a drafting error in Germany’s implementing law that said the EU rules should not apply to ongoing procedures, a formulation that conflicts with the directly applicable EU regulation.
- The government has attached a corrective provision to another bill for fast parliamentary approval to formally delete the conflicting clause and plans to make that change effective on October 1.
- The Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) was ordered to apply the EU rules where they give applicants a more favourable standard from the start of the transition and will use the period to complete technical and operational adjustments by October 1.
- Opposition MPs criticised the last-minute handling as confusing, while the change comes as part of a wider EU overhaul that also introduces measures such as accelerated procedures at external borders and could affect how quickly claims are processed and rights are decided.