So far this year, Germany has received 5,211 initial and follow-up asylum applications from people who have already been granted international protection by Greece. This emerges from an answer from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a parliamentary question from CDU politician Tilman Kuban, which is available to the Editorial Network Germany (RND).
Accordingly, a total of 1,524 corresponding asylum applications were received in January 2024. In February it was 1908 and in March 1779. There are no more recent dates. According to the Interior Ministry’s list, 8,834 corresponding asylum applications were received in 2023. In 2022 there were significantly more with 16,450 applications.
Anyone who has a residence permit as a third-country national can travel to another EU country and stay there for 90 days. Kuban suspects that many of the applicants recorded by the federal government are taking advantage of the regulation. “Thousands of people who have already found protection in Greece can simply get on a plane to Germany and then apply for asylum here again,” his group’s Greece rapporteur told the RND and called on the federal government to act.
“The federal government must make Germany more attractive for real skilled workers and put an end to the madness with this absurd ‘vacation regulation’ in Europe. The Greeks are ready for greater control.”