On Monday, Europe’s interior ministers will approve the asylum reform in the EU Council. This will also mark a period of adjustment for German administrative courts to the new legal framework. Robert Seegmüller, the president of the Association of Administrative Judges, outlines the challenges faced by his colleagues due to the migration situation and the new EU regulations. While the association welcomes the EU asylum reform agreement, Seegmüller emphasizes that the workload for German administrative courts is not expected to decrease. They must be prepared to handle asylum-related cases at a similar level as before, with additional training and familiarization with the new laws being necessary.
Seegmüller, who is also a judge at the Federal Administrative Court and Vice President of the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin, notes that asylum cases make up about half of all administrative court work. In addition to asylum cases, there are also a significant number of immigration-related disputes, such as those involving residence permits or deportations. The workload on administrative courts, therefore, remains high, with migration-related cases making up more than half of all cases handled. Most asylum cases deal with appeals against decisions made by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, with a majority of rejected applicants choosing to contest the decisions in court.
The workload of administrative courts with asylum-related cases is directly proportional to the number of asylum decisions made by the Federal Office for Migration. The higher the number of asylum applications accepted by the office, the higher the number of appeals and subsequent court cases. With around 2300 judges working in administrative courts at the first instance level, Seegmüller praises the additional support provided to the courts during the refugee crisis. However, he stresses the importance of maintaining this support in light of the high number of pending cases and upcoming retirements within the judiciary.
The new EU asylum regulations represent a significant shift towards directly applicable EU law, eliminating the need to transpose regulations into national law as was previously done with directives. This change will require administrative courts to familiarize themselves with both the substantive and procedural aspects of the new laws to ensure a seamless transition from old to new regulations. The adjustment period for the new regulations is set at two years, during which courts will continue to apply existing laws. The Federal Office for Migration and administrative courts are already working on aligning their processes with the new regulations.
In Germany, migrants have various avenues to challenge decisions, including appeals against transfers to other EU countries, appeals against asylum rejections, and even challenges to deportation attempts. The extensive legal protections for migrants in Germany are rooted in Article 19, paragraph 4 of the German Constitution, which mandates full legal and factual scrutiny of state actions by administrative courts. While Seegmüller acknowledges that legal protections may vary in different democratic states, he emphasizes the importance of upholding the rule of law and providing access to justice for all individuals, regardless of their legal status.
