Germany Plans Not to Give Asylum to Georgian Citizens
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, April 11
(BERLIN)--German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Deutsche Welle on Monday that Germany intends to add Georgia and Armenia to the list of safe countries, which means that no one from the countries will receive asylum in Germany, as the status means no one is politically prosecuted in the countries enlisted as safe.
Stefan Meier, the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Germany, says that a big number of Armenians and Georgians request asylum in Germany, but only "very few” gain a positive response.
“I believe it is reasonable to recognize Georgia as a safe country, especially when the Georgian government unconditionally supports the decision,” Meyer said.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees of Germany says that 3,462 citizens of Georgia and 3,857 citizens of Armenia applied for asylum in Germany last year.
The government of Georgia stated at the end of February that they requested Germany to put Georgia on the safe country list in order to prevent the illegal flow of Georgians to Germany.
The German Embassy to Georgia also reported about the growing number of Georgian asylum seekers.
“In January alone [2018] 700 Georgian citizens requested asylum in Germany, with almost 100% of requests refused.” the German Embassy in Georgia stated.
Germany officials announced that those who will be refused an asylum will not be able to enter Germany for several years.
Georgia has activated talks on tough measures against those violating the Georgia-EU visa free deal, since one of the regions of Germany asked for the suspension of visa liberalization for Georgia, granted in March 2017.
The Georgian government announced that the readmission expenses will be paid by those who violate the visa free terms and it will become complicated for Georgian citizens to change their surnames, as many used this way to illegally return to the EU states.
The Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze said last month that as Georgia was granted the visa free opportunity, 220,000 people have travelled to the Schengen Zone since March 2017.
