Berlin/Brussels: Toughened rules governing asylum requests to stay in Germany came into effect on Saturday, a full week earlier than planned, dpa reported.
Under the rules, asylum seekers will be required to spend longer in reception centres and receive allowances in kind rather than cash, while people arriving from Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania will face quicker repatriation because their origin countries have been deemed safe.
German lawmakers rushed the new rules through parliament because a wave of hundreds of thousands of migrants did not seem to be letting up. Initially expected to go into effect November 1, the legislators worked so fast that the measure was ready to go into effect this weekend.
Estimates of asylum requests expected vary between 800,000 and 1.5 million for Germany this year, up from just more than 200,000 in 2014.
The law also hopes to speed up the procedure for applicants who are likely to be successful and offer them integration courses even before a final decision has been made regarding their status.
Human rights organizations, opposition politicians, lawyers and migration experts have criticized the new rules.
On Sunday, an emergency meeting convened by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker plans to bring together Germany with nine other EU countries to discuss the migrant crisis.
It is believed they will mull the creation of a new border-control mission at the Greek frontier with Albania and Macedonia, according to a draft statement prepared for crisis talks Sunday in Brussels.
The congestion has led to bottlenecks and tensions among Balkan countries, with migrants left out in the mud, rain and cold.
QNA
