German minister hopes for agreement on EU asylum reform in June

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Thursday in Berlin that she hopes for an agreement on asylum reform, which has been controversial in Europe for years, in June.

"I see Schengen in danger if we do not succeed in really reaching an agreement there in the next few months," the Social Democrat (SPD) politician said of the European visa-free travel area in Berlin on Thursday.

While there is freedom of movement in the Schengen area, to which many European countries belong, some states have checks at their borders. "And of course, June 8 is very important. It would be great if we succeeded there already," Faeser said.

On June 8, the EU interior ministers want to deal with the issue again in Luxembourg. The EU member states are currently working hard to agree on the main features of a reform of the European asylum system.

In particular, the question of whether there should be preliminary examinations of asylum applications at Europe's external borders and a possible distribution of refugees within Europe is disputed.

If an agreement cannot be reached in June, negotiations could still take place later, Faeser said. "But at the moment we should make a lot of effort to actually make progress there on June 8."

Her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, with whom Faeser had spoken earlier, expressed similar views. "We have to do something. We have to take a step forward at the European level."