The 2015–2016 German migrant crisis refers to the situation for the German state and society that arose in connection with the entry of over one million refugees, migrants and other asylum seekers into Germany in 2015 and 2016. It is part of the Europe-wide refugee crisis and reached its peak in autumn 2015. For 2015 and 2016, a total of 1,855,522 initial registrations in and 1,222,194 asylum applications were recorded.
Following the extensive closure of the Western and the , significantly fewer asylum seekers came to Germany on average each month. In 2017, their number fell to the level of 2014.
The large influx of people seeking protection within a short period of time triggered a social debate in Germany about the direction of the European Union's asylum and refugee policy and Germany's immigration and refugee policy. When it comes to the reception of migrants by the population in Germany and how they are treated, there is a wide spectrum of attitudes and behaviours, ranging from a welcoming culture (Willkommenskultur) to xenophobia. While on the one hand, various efforts have been and are being made to help immigrants and facilitate their integration, other efforts are aimed at rejected asylum seekers as quickly as possible or closing the country's borders to unwanted immigration. The term "refugee crisis" as such is also controversial.
The political parties differ greatly in their ideas on migration and asylum policy. Important aspects of the debate are immigration control that meets humanitarian requirements and a supplementary immigration law with a focus on the labour market.
The Syrian civil war was one of the main reasons why many people fled to Germany. According to German asylum law, the majority of refugees from Syria are only entitled to ; comparatively few are entitled to asylum beyond this.
To combat the causes of refugee immigration to Germany, the federal government increased its contributions to international aid programs and was the second largest donor to the UNHCR in 2017. More humanitarian aid was also provided by the United Nations and the European Union. In addition to Syrians, Iraqis and refugees from other countries in the Near East, large numbers of those seeking asylum in Germany in 2015/16 also included Afghans and migrants from Africa and from non-EU countries in the Balkans.
Creation In 2017, migration researcher highlighted six elements of a complex interrelationship as important factors for the drastic increase in refugee migration to Germany in 2015:
The main countries of origin, Syria, Iraq and Southeast Europe, are relatively close to the EU, which made the effort (time and costs) of fleeing seem manageable. Germany became the most important European destination for people seeking protection or asylum because migrant networks of various origins had long existed here and could serve as contact points. Since the early 2010s, against the backdrop of demographic change and an emerging shortage of skilled workers in Germany, an increased willingness to accept refugees has been observed – in conjunction with the acceptance of human rights standards and the right to protection, especially for Syrian refugees. The destabilisation of a number of countries bordering the EU in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis – including Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Albania and Ukraine – eliminated the migration barriers previously negotiated with the respective governments and enabled an increased influx of refugees. The states on the EU's external borders that are responsible for the initial reception of refugees under the Dublin III Regulation were overwhelmed by the influx, especially Greece and Italy. In 2015, the European internal area (particularly Germany, Denmark and Sweden) also became a migration destination. As the willingness to accept migrants decreased significantly, even in traditional asylum countries such as France and Great Britain, Germany became a replacement destination country in 2015.
According to , the general factors in the selection of a migrant's destination country include political and economic stability and the reputation of a country. The Federal Republic of Germany is considered - regardless of possible differences between external perception and internal perspective - "as one of the most important economic powers in the world, as the dominant force in the European Union and as an open, liberal country". In addition, there are diaspora communities with corresponding networks in Germany, especially Syrian ones, which are also the focus of German reception policy. "This should make integration easier and the financial risks (health insurance, etc.) should be transferred to relatives." The acceleration of chain migration processes has occurred as an unintended side effect.
Measures of the federal government
Measures in the European and constitutional context
Background: Dublin Regulations and suspension of transfers to Greece
Under the Dublin II Regulation, which was in force from 2003 to 2013, the member states of the European Union, as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, were obliged to examine 'every application for asylum lodged by a third country national at the border or on the territory of a member state'. The Dublin III Regulation, which came into force in 2013, contains a similar requirement, but now refers to 'application for international protection' instead of 'asylum application'. However, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) continues to refer to asylum application and asylum procedure as generic terms, which is why the terms are used as such in the following.
According to the regulations, the asylum application was and is examined (in material law) by a single state, i.e. the asylum procedure is carried out by a single state, which is determined according to certain criteria and in an order of examination. If the applicant submits the application at an external border of the area of application, the relevant state is usually responsible; if the applicant entered the country illegally, the state through which the asylum seeker entered the European Union is usually responsible. The states in which the application was submitted also have the right, under the so-called sovereignty clauses or the right of self-intervention, to examine an application themselves, i.e. to carry out the asylum procedure themselves.
Following this, the Federal Constitutional Court provisionally suspended transfers to Greece, beginning with a decision on 8 September 2009. On 13 January 2011, the Federal Ministry of the Interior under Minister Thomas de Maizière instructed the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees not to carry out any transfers to Greece for a year and instead to exercise its right of intervention and to conduct the asylum procedures itself. The Federal Constitutional Court then did not make any further decisions on the main issue.
On 21 January 2011, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in the case of an Afghan who had entered the European Union via Greece, was detained there for a week and then ordered to leave the country, then travelled to Belgium, applied for asylum there and was to be transferred to Greece under the Dublin II procedure, that both Greece and Belgium had violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In December 2011, in the context of possible transfers to Greece, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a ruling compatible with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on the basis of Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which in turn corresponds to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In 2011, the other member states of the European Union also suspended transfers to Greece under the Dublin procedure.
Furthermore, administrative courts had reservations about transfers to other countries. In November 2010, for the first time, an administrative court suspended the transfer of a refugee to Italy on the grounds of inadequate social standards, and other courts followed suit.Dominik Bender, Maria Bethke: (PDF) Frankfurt 2011.
The directive not to transfer asylum seekers to Greece under the Dublin Regulations was subsequently extended from year to year and then again in January 2016 for six months. When the directive was extended for 2013, the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced that the Greek asylum system still had serious deficiencies. In a letter to the state interior ministers in January 2016, Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière stated that the treatment of asylum seekers in Greece did not always meet European standards.
Based on these instructions, from 2011 to 2016, asylum applications from third-country nationals submitted in Germany or at the borders of Germany, where the examination under the Dublin Regulations, without taking into account the situation in Greece, would have shown that Greece was responsible for carrying out the asylum procedure, were always examined in Germany.
When drafting the Dublin III Regulation, the court rulings of the ECHR and the ECJ were taken into account (in Article 3, Paragraph 2, Sentence 2 of the Dublin III Regulation). The Dublin III Regulation also contains a six-month deadline for transfers (Article 29, Paragraph 2, Sentence 1 of the Dublin III Regulation). After this deadline has expired, the country carrying out the Dublin procedure automatically becomes responsible. In the case of a person who entered Greece illegally from Turkey and then applied for asylum in Germany, Germany would therefore automatically have been responsible after six months at the latest without using the right of self-submission. By using the right of self-submission, Germany has anticipated this automatism.
The beginning of the crisis As early as 2012, Greece had set up an automatic surveillance system on the Evros river, its border with Turkey, as well as a border fence where the river does not form the natural border between the states. People trying to enter Greece were intercepted at the river by Turkish border officials. Furthermore, since 2013 there have been reports of rejections and so-called push-backs by Greek border officials without the opportunity to apply for asylum. In January 2014, Bulgaria responded to increasing illegal entries by building a fence on its border with Turkey. From 2014 onwards, Syrians and people of other nationalities who were in Turkey and intended to apply for asylum in Europe, or who were travelling to Turkey for this purpose, generally crossed the sea between the Turkish coast and an offshore Greek island, thus entering Greece illegally. If these persons then travelled on to Germany and applied for asylum there, Germany exercised its right of self-intervention under the Dublin Regulation in accordance with the order of the Federal Minister of the Interior and took over the examination of the asylum application.
In the first half of 2015, Italy also complained about being overloaded due to the Dublin system, with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi calling the Dublin Regulation "wrong and harmful". According to estimates by the International Organization for Migration (IMO), in the first quarter of 2015, half of the people who landed in Italy and subsequently applied for asylum in the EU travelled on to other EU countries, such as Germany, without registering or applying for asylum. Around 40 percent of asylum seekers registered in the EU applied in Germany, compared to only 8 percent in Italy.