Lower Saxony's Minister President, SPD politician Stephan Weil, expresses hope for fewer asylum seekers in 2024, citing the importance of border controls and repatriations. Over 30,000 asylum seekers were registered from January to November, a 40% increase from the previous year. Since 2015, the population of refugees in Lower Saxony has grown significantly, reaching around 250,000-260,000, roughly equal to Braunschweig's population.
Weil attributes the rise in refugees to dated housing markets and fewer willing participants in 2015. The EU agreement, expected to tighten asylum regulations, plans for uniform border procedures and stricter measures for relatively safe countries. Arriving individuals will undergo checks in reception camps, with photos and fingerprints used to verify threats to security. Asylum applications will also be processed quickly, with rejected applicants deported to third countries more easily.
Lower Saxony currently has around 15,000 reception facilities, with only 40% occupied, providing relief. Weil looks optimistically at an EU common asylum policy to share responsibility, but Poland has announced its opposition to the EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum, citing existing hosting of Ukrainian refugees and concerns about solidarity mechanisms. The European Commission is planning return hubs outside EU borders as a potential deterrent to irregular migration, but humanitarian organizations express concerns over these proposed detention facilities' treatment of migrants.
[1] Newsweek: Poland to boycott EU migration pact due to fears of forced migrations [2] EU Observer: Turning the page on migration: What will happen at the end of the Frontex mandate? [3] The Irish Times: EU to propose replacement for Dublin Regulation as EU-wide asylum process in motion [4] BBC News: Germany deports naturalised citizens for the first time in 30 years.
