Germany Accuses Switzerland of Violating Dublin Agreement for Freely Allowing Migrants to Cross Border

According to local media in Switzerland, every week, nearly 1,000 migrants, mainly young Afghans, don’t apply for asylum but are headed toward France or Germany, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

Police deployed at Saint Gallen confirmed for Swiss media they formally allow migrants to continue their journey – a move that sparked criticism in Germany.

“If these reports are true, Switzerland is simply waving people through. National egoisms are damaging the Schengen area,” Andrea Lindholz, deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, said.

Lindholz calls for the Swiss government to address the issue as more migrants are crossing the border to Germany, and she reminded Switzerland to take action against illegal migration.

Switzerland is a member of the Schengen area, which allows restriction-free travelling, among other things, but not a member of the European Union.

According to the Dublin Agreement, which is an EU law that establishes which country is responsible for looking at a migrant’s asylum application, the first country that the asylum seeker arrives in is usually the one that has to establish the application procedures.

A representative for the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has confirmed that the Swiss practice was a violation of Schengen’s Dublin Agreement, noting that allowing migrants to simply pass is not possible.

On the other hand, the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) doesn’t accept the criticism and says it doesn’t forward migrants.

Switzerland is not waving through. The Dublin procedure cannot be carried out for people who are no longer present,” SEM Spokesperson Daniel Bach said, pointing out that his country is actively fighting illegal migration.

Presently, the EU Member States, especially Germany and France, are dealing with increasing numbers of migrants, reaching the highest level of irregular border crossing since 2016, when one of the biggest migration crisis happened, as Frontex, the European border security agency, said.

Almost 700 people are reaching the eastern border of Switzerland via the Balkans, which is three times more than last year. The increase in asylum applications is noticed in Switzerland, too, but most of these migrants don’t have any desire to stay in Switzerland, with the majority of those headed toward Germany, France, or the United Kingdom.

However, an investigation by Swiss public television revealed that Switzerland does allow migrants to cross the border to neighbouring countries instead of stopping or sending them back as demanded.