Meeting in Brussels on 8 December, EU home-affairs ministers – chaired by Germany’s Alexander Dobrindt under the rotating presidency – adopted their final negotiating position on two cornerstone files of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. The first regulation sets up a standardised screening procedure and lets member states refuse applicants who could obtain protection in a designated ‘safe’ third country. The second harmonises return rules, enabling detention of up to 18 months for migrants who ignore voluntary-departure orders and creating EU-funded “return hubs” outside the bloc.
For Germany the deal dovetails neatly with domestic legislation approved the same weekend in the Bundestag. Officials told reporters that Berlin intends to transpose the EU list of safe countries “within weeks”, using the new powers granted to the Interior Ministry. That would align national practice with EU standards and avoid future infringement proceedings.
![EU ministers endorse asylum ‘safe-country’ list; Berlin gears up for rapid rollout]()
German business chambers largely support the reforms, arguing that predictable procedures will shorten asylum backlogs and free administrative capacity for work-visa processing. Human-rights organisations, however, condemn the package as outsourcing protection obligations and normalising long-term detention.
Trialogue negotiations with the European Parliament start on 15 December. If a deal is struck before the end of the year, the regulations could apply from mid-2026 – a tight timetable that forces HR teams to monitor both Brussels and Berlin for implementing decrees and to update mobility risk assessments, particularly for assignees coming from newly listed ‘safe’ states.
For Germany the deal dovetails neatly with domestic legislation approved the same weekend in the Bundestag. Officials told reporters that Berlin intends to transpose the EU list of safe countries “within weeks”, using the new powers granted to the Interior Ministry. That would align national practice with EU standards and avoid future infringement proceedings.
German business chambers largely support the reforms, arguing that predictable procedures will shorten asylum backlogs and free administrative capacity for work-visa processing. Human-rights organisations, however, condemn the package as outsourcing protection obligations and normalising long-term detention.
Trialogue negotiations with the European Parliament start on 15 December. If a deal is struck before the end of the year, the regulations could apply from mid-2026 – a tight timetable that forces HR teams to monitor both Brussels and Berlin for implementing decrees and to update mobility risk assessments, particularly for assignees coming from newly listed ‘safe’ states.
