The premiers of Germany’s 16 federal states meeting in the eastern city of Leipzig on Friday agreed a joint statement on migration which describes the number of people seeking asylum to be “still far too high.”
The statement released by the committee that brings the premiers together to coordinate policy concluded that “there is still a need for action on this issue.”
However, they conceded that measures already taken to better control migration are beginning to have an effect.
The state premiers decided to continue the existing checks at internal borders, which they said have contributed significantly to reducing the number of illegal entries.
Another key point is said to be the revival of the so-called Dublin Regulation, which is the basis for transfers within the European Union. It stipulates that asylum seekers are to be brought to the country in which they first set foot on European soil.
The state leaders demanded that in the future, responsibility for this should no longer lie with the federal states, but centrally with the federal government.
In addition, the states plan to reopen the discussion with the federal government about deportations to transit or non-EU countries. The federal government was asked to report on the current situation and present specific models at the next joint conference of the premiers in December.
The states also called on the federal government to limit family reunification to cases of hardship.
