The Asylum Story

It's a curious German story over immigration that has a lot of implications.

It's been cited over numerous German newspapers, and lays out some significant problems for future migrants.

So, Mr X was a Syrian.  He made his way to Greece.  By the Dubin Agreement, if you declare yourself for asylum in any member state or signee of the agreement, then that's your country, and you remain there.

Generally, most of the news sources are careful not to say when he arrived in Greece, but it appears to have been in 2014.

After a while, Mr X came to discover that the Greeks don't offer much of anything to an asylum seeker.  The benefits package is marginal at best.

So, Mr X took off and in 2015.....arrived in Germany (where they have outstanding benefit packages for asylum seekers).  He did admit to having been in Greece, and having signed some asylum papers there, but he just couldn't survive with what they were giving out.

Time passed, and the BamF folks (the immigration crowd) said 'no'.  You can't stay because you've already signed for asylum in Greece.....that's your home country until you become a citizen.

So court case has been brewing and yesterday came to a semi-conclusion.  The German court says he must stay....because if Greece doesn't provide enough to survive, then it only makes sense to leave.  Then the court did an odd thing.....they handed the case back down to a lesser court and instructed them to find proof that Greek benefits were non-existent for migrants.

How long will this phase last?  I'm guessing a minimum of a year.  The Greek response will probably be that they want people working immediately upon arrival, and that Greeks don't believe in hand-outs.  If the guy wants charity in Greece, he needs to go to some charitable organization.

The Germans?  The lesser court will report back with this info, and a remarkable situation will have been created.  Hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants sitting in Greece and having signed the papers for asylum there....will probably pack up and head off to Germany.  If you look strictly at 2016 numbers for Greece, there's roughly 40,000 applicants noted (Eurostat numbers).

But this opens up this whole discussion.  There are two countries in Europe generally noted for five-star benefit programs for migrants and asylum-seekers (Sweden and Germany).  After that, comes the four-star crowd (UK, France, Netherlands, Austria), then the three-and-two-star crowd, and you will eventually reach the one-star crowd (Greece).  This has been noted a lot over the past four years.

The EU probably would like to have one single benefits program but the bulk of the EU will absolutely not agree to that type of situation.  Even the Germans might be shocked that the EU might settle upon a scheme that is half of what the Germans hand out presently.