"Difficult talks" with Germany meet with success
Talks with the Federal Republic of Germany regarding a group of asylum seekers that Belgium believes first travelled to Germany and that were described as "difficult" have met with success. Germany is now prepared to accept a group of 165 asylum seekers who applied for asylum in Belgium after first being registered in the Federal Republic.
The row with Germans started several months ago after Germany initially refused to accept a group of 350 asylum seekers who were first registered there. Under the Dublin accords asylum seekers must apply for asylum in the first EU state they encounter on their flight.
Belgian asylum secretary Francken: "They (Germany) had a backlog in registration and apparently didn't register the finger prints. They also questioned whether the group had actually been in Germany."
Months of "difficult" negotiations have now led to an accord. Germany will now accept 165 people. The Netherlands too was in a similar predicament and also joined the talks. Germany will now also accept a group of 450 "Dutch" asylum seekers.