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When European Policies Meet German Federalism: A Study on the Implementation of the EU Reception Conditions Directive
[journal article]
Abstract Article 21 of the recast Reception Conditions Directive 2013/33/EU (RCD) stipulates that member states shall consider the special needs of asylum seekers with, inter alia, mental illnesses. Similar to other member states, Germany failed to transpose the RCD into national law within the two years pre... view more
Article 21 of the recast Reception Conditions Directive 2013/33/EU (RCD) stipulates that member states shall consider the special needs of asylum seekers with, inter alia, mental illnesses. Similar to other member states, Germany failed to transpose the RCD into national law within the two years prescribed. Due to the inactivity of the federal legislator, the Directive became directly applicable. In the German system of cooperative federalism, this means that the application of the RCD moved downstream to the responsibility of the German Länder (states), which have since found themselves with vague responsibilities, lacking a clear regulation cascade from the federal level. How do Länder implement the RCD and how is its implementation in Germany affected by the federal institutional setting? The objective of this article is to analyse and systematise the patterns of the RCD's implementation on the subnational level in Germany. On the one hand, the findings suggest that the open formulation of the RCD and the federal government's inactivity allow for a higher degree of liberty in applying the Directive on the subnational level. On the other hand, most measures taken hitherto have been rather small and ad‐hoc and some Länder have even failed to adopt any significant changes at all. The RCD's implementation in Germany has consisted of a "tinkering" process, generating an incoherent patchwork of policy outputs. The resulting unequal standards in the reception of asylum seekers displaying mental illnesses present far‐reaching consequences for the people affected.... view less
Keywords
Federal Republic of Germany; Bundesland; asylum policy; asylum seeker; legislation; mental health; right of asylum; EU
Classification
Migration, Sociology of Migration
Law
Free Keywords
German federalism; Länder; asylum policy; implementation; psychological care
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 26-35
Journal
Social Inclusion, 10 (2022) 3
Issue topic
A Common European Asylum System: Utopian or Dystopian Expectations?
ISSN
2183-2803
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed