German health minister calls for better management of EU external borders

BERLIN -- The newly-appointed German Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) on Wednesday called for a significant expansion of the responsibilities and resources of the European Union external border agency Frontex.

Speaking to the newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Spahn expressed the view that securing the external Schengen frontier was a quintessential example of how Germany's national interests had become inextricable from those of the wider EU and justified the new government's prioritization of Europe in its coalition agreement.

"Frontex needs 100,000 employees and should really protect the frontier," Spahn said. He argued that surrendering a part of German sovereignty in this context was possible if it actually improved the quality of border management.

Following the collapse of the current Dublin III regime in 2015, more than one million asylum seekers from non-EU countries arrived in Germany.

Spahn criticized the fact that Frontex currently has 250 permanent staff, assisted by a small contingent of 1,500 national officers, and was hence unable to effectively fulfill its tasks.

While the EU would always be open to refugees who could demonstrate a credible entitlement to asylum under the Geneva convention, it needed to "know who wants to enter (the Schengen area) and then decide whether they are allowed to do so".

The minister reiterated earlier calls by German chancellor and CDU leader Angela Merkel for a widening of the scope of Frontex to better protect the Schengen area's 14,000 km external frontier.

Spahn belongs to the conservative faction of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and has repeatedly clashed with the more moderate party leader prior to joining her fourth cabinet.

In another example of divergence in the two CDU politicians' worldviews, Spahn praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in his interview on Wednesday for his efforts to keep refugees out of his country.

"Despite all valid criticism of Orban: he is implementing European law at the Hungarian borders and hereby protects Europe's border," Spahn said.

Hungary, along with other so-called "Visegrad" group of Eastern European states, faces legal prosecution by the EU Commission for failing to fulfill their respective refugee quotas under a new European asylum system agreed in 2016.

Merkel and other senior German politicians have regularly lashed out at Budapest for non-compliance in this regard.