ECJ Victory for Rejected Asylum-Seekers: More Than Bare Minimum Required, but New EU Pact Raises Questions
In a win for rejected asylum-seekers, the European Court of Justice has determined that they are entitled to more than just the essentials needed for survival. However, as the European Union’s new migration pact takes effect, will this reprieve prove temporary?
What does a person require to live with dignity while awaiting asylum and while being moved from one European nation to another?
That was the issue facing the judges of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as they issued a verdict on whether the benefits offered by Germany fell short of EU standards.
The ECJ was asked to clarify the rights of an Afghan asylum-seeker, identified as FB, whose asylum request had been turned down by Germany and who was scheduled for deportation to Romania, where he first applied for asylum in 2021.
While FB awaited his transfer, he was supplied with food, heated lodging, hygiene products, and medical care, but got no support for clothing or other household necessities. A German law reduced benefits for rejected asylum-seekers to what activists described as a "bed, bread, and soap" level of subsistence.
FB sued the Bavarian district of Schweinfurt after his benefits were reduced in 2022, but the case ultimately reached the ECJ.
On Thursday, the court decided in favor of the rejected asylum-seeker, stating that basic essentials like clothing and household items cannot be taken away even after an asylum application is denied.
Clothing ranks among the "most basic needs," the court said, and cash allowances for daily necessities such as travel tickets and communication devices guarantee a "minimum level of participation in the social and cultural life" of the member state where a person resides. This support helps "to ensure the applicant's subsistence and to protect the applicant's physical and mental health."
Activists welcomed the decision and anticipate it will have an impact across the EU. However, a new migration pact casts uncertainty.
**Germany tightened asylum benefits in 2024**
FB applied for asylum in Germany in 2021. A year later, his application was declared "inadmissible."
EU migration policy is governed by the Dublin Regulation, which states that an asylum application is considered inadmissible if another participating country has already taken on or been assigned responsibility for the claim.
This is intended to discourage secondary movement and prevent asylum-seekers from congregating in a few nations, instead spreading them across the bloc.
Migration has become a major political concern in Germany over the past decade, used as a key talking point by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to gain electoral support. In an effort to win back voters, the elected German government has faced pressure to cut benefits for asylum-seekers.
Under a 2024 amendment to the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act, Germany allowed the provision of food, housing, and healthcare but reduced cash allowances.
"In practice, this can mean no or very little cash," Wiebke Judith, a policy and advocacy officer for Pro Asyl, a German NGO focused on human rights and refugee protection in Europe, told DW.
Activists argued that the lack of clothing and cash denied adequate living standards and thus violated the intent of the EU's Reception Conditions Directive, which sets minimum standards for assistance to asylum applicants across the bloc, including those who have been rejected.
"The sociocultural component of the subsistence minimum was eliminated" by Germany in the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act, Pro Asyl said in a statement. But the court's ruling "clearly rejected this reduction in benefits," it added.
The ECJ's decision indicates that even rejected asylum-seekers must have access to essential support until their transfer is actually carried out.
**AfD capitalizes on 'generous welfare' benefits**
Far-right and even some conservative politicians in Europe have objected to what they call "generous welfare" benefits for asylum-seekers, describing them as a pull factor attracting migrants from non-EU countries to Europe.
The AfD in Germany has claimed that migrants pocket cash assistance or send it to families back home. The far-right party also took credit when the German government introduced a debit card with a fixed amount for purchases instead of cash in 2024.
But activists have argued that such restrictions will not deter immigrants, and instead push them into the informal economy. Those fleeing war and persecution, Judith said earlier, will not be discouraged by a lack of benefits.
**As EU's new migration pact kicks in, will the relief be short-lived?**
Thursday's ruling provides EU-wide guidance for national authorities on how to treat asylum-seekers during transfer procedures, reinforcing the protection of fundamental rights throughout the asylum process.
Yet there are worries that come June 12, when the new EU migration pact takes effect, the victory at the ECJ may not count for much.
"It won't help for too long," Gerard Sadik, asylum manager at La Cimade, a French NGO providing legal support for asylum-seekers, told DW. The new migration pact "offers fewer benefits," he said.
**EU migration pact set to tighten border controls**
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"The new rules from 12 June say that member states may reduce or withdraw daily allowances" and other benefits "for applicants who are required to be present in another member state," Swedish political scientist Bernd Parusel told DW.
"At the same time, they still need to ensure a standard of living in accordance with union law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and international obligations," he added.
Judith of Pro Asyl was more optimistic and pleased with the court's direction. "The court's ruling reveals a direction of travel, that it sees personal benefits as essential to a dignified life," she said.
Edited by: Martin Kuebler