The EU Commission has officially designated four countries as member countries that require relief in terms of accepting migrants. They received a “very high” number of refugees last year. However, Germany is not one of them.
According to the EU Commission, migration pressure in Germany is not yet so high that Berlin could easily apply not to accept additional migrants until the end of 2026 or waive solidarity contributions such as cash and allowances to other EU countries. In the EU’s annual migration report for Germany, presented for the first time, Brussels only diagnosed a “risk of migration pressure” based on current developments. Therefore, there may be “certain pressure on the asylum, migration and reception systems.”
However, according to the EU Commission, when assessing the migration situation in the country, Germany’s previous achievements in receiving refugees – especially from other EU countries in the context of asylum tourism – should also be recognized. “Germany has done a lot in terms of solidarity,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner said on Tuesday evening in Brussels.
Overall, this means that the federal government can negotiate so that migrants who would otherwise have to apply for asylum in another EU country such as Italy or Spain (the ‘Dublin procedure’) can apply in Germany and in return have the processing of those asylum applications counted towards the acceptance quotas set in the so-called solidarity mechanism (‘offset of responsibility’).
In addition, Germany will be able to apply for technical, personnel and financial assistance from Brussels in handling migration (EU Migration Support Toolbox). According to the EU Commission, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Poland, the Baltic states and Finland are in a similar situation to Germany.
The EU Commission’s assessment of the migration situation in the 27 EU countries is politically explosive. This forms the basis for final decisions by heads of state and government on whether and, if so, how many migrants each EU country should accept from other EU member states due to their excess burden. This decision determines the so-called solidarity group, that is, the total number of migrants that must be redistributed within the EU.
At the same time, heads of government also determine which countries should accept how many migrants as part of redistribution. The main aim is to reduce pressure on Mediterranean countries such as Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Italy, where most refugees from Africa set foot on European territory for the first time. Brussels has determined that these four countries – unlike Germany – are actually under “migration pressure” and are not simply at risk of overload. Therefore, from June 2026, when the new EU asylum policy comes into force, countries will have the right to have migrants taken from them by other member states.
Finally, there is a third group: countries facing “significant migration situations” due to developments over the past five years. These include Austria and the Czech Republic. These countries can request that they be partially or completely exempted from solidarity obligations.
This report on the migration situation is part of the EU asylum reform, which will come into force in mid-2026. In addition to speeding up border procedures, the reform also provides for a so-called solidarity mechanism, through which around 30,000 refugees from countries with a high number of arrivals will be distributed to other EU countries each year (“relocation”). However, depending on the location, the number can be much higher or lower than 30,000.
Overall, migration pressures in the EU are decreasing. “Illegal migration fell 35 percent last year,” said Commissioner Brunner. He pointed out that agreements with third countries such as Tunisia and increased border protection in particular have contributed significantly to this development.
