As Germany began border checks on Monday contradicting the European Union's Schengen zone rules, a German expert called for the European country to seek a deal with Türkiye instead. Germany’s decision to reimpose border controls will not stop irregular migration and risks undermining the EU’s unity and cooperation. Gerald Knaus, co-founder of the Berlin-based think tank European Stability Initiative (ESI), told Anadolu Agency (AA).
According to EU regulations, asylum seekers should apply for refugee status in the first European country they enter. Those who are granted asylum are supposed to be distributed across EU member states. Still, the system has been dysfunctional for years due to the reluctance of several member states to take in refugees. While most refugees enter Europe via Italy, Greece or Bulgaria, many of them travel to Germany, where they have more opportunities. With the new measures, German police will not allow asylum seekers to enter the country if they have already applied for asylum in another EU member state.
Knaus argued that the best solution for Germany to address this problem would be to revive the stalled EU-Türkiye cooperation on migration, which he said was in the interest of all EU member states and Türkiye. "I think that ... Germany and Türkiye should sit down and discuss for another win-win solution,” he said, adding that the 2016 EU-Türkiye agreement to stem irregular migration was a success, and reviving it could significantly decrease irregular refugee flows. "Türkiye and Germany have a lot in common. There are now 1 million Syrians already in Germany. Türkiye, of course, famously has the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world – 3.1 million, according to the latest official figures. Germany and Türkiye have a common interest that this crisis, which was caused by the war in Syria, is resolved humanely,” he said.
Knaus said Germany and its EU partners should share Türkiye’s refugee burden and create legal ways for Syrians who are entitled to protection to come to Europe. He also underlined that the EU should continue providing financial assistance for the Syrian refugees in Türkiye. Within the scope of this cooperation, he added, the EU and Türkiye can also take further joint actions to curb irregular refugee flows. "Türkiye needs the EU and rightly demands support from the EU while it is facing this huge number of refugees in its own country, which is not the fault of Türkiye. It’s the fault of the war in Syria,” he said.
"The EU needs Türkiye, so let’s find a win-win solution instead of having smugglers determine who comes to Europe and having the far right exploit this issue,” he said, stressing that the extremely racist and anti-Muslim far-right parties, which have made major gains in recent elections in Europe, are a threat to everyone.
