In what would be a huge shift for a country with one of the most generous a sylum policies, the German Interior Ministry says the European Union should adopt an Australian-style system under which migrants intercepted at sea are sent for processing at camps in third countries.
“The elimination of the prospect of reaching the European coast could convince migrants to avoid embarking on the life-threatening and costly journey in the first place” the Weltam Sonntag newspaper reported yesterday, quoting a ministry spokeswoman.
The ministry’s proposal calls for migrants picked up in the Mediterranean most of whom set off from conflict- torn Libya –to be sent to Tunisia, Egypt or other north African states to apply for asylum from there.
If their asylum applications are accepted, the migrants could then be transported to Europe.
The ministry is headed by Thomas de Maiziere, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
