Different acceptance rates

Member states have not consistently and uniformly interpreted the
common standards stipulated in the relevant directives. In 2016, Hungary and
Poland accepted only relatively small fractions of 8.4% and about 12%,
respectively, of all applications for protection (refugee status or subsidiary
protection) lodged in the country. In contrast, the acceptance rate in Germany
was nearly 69%. In the Netherlands, it even stood at 72% (EU-28 average:
68%).

This might partially result from the refugees’ different countries of origin.
But the application rates by country of origin show broad variance, too. With
regard to migrants from Eritrea, the spectrum goes from 47% in France to nearly
100% in Germany and Finland. For immigrants from Afghanistan, the range is
even wider, namely from less than 10% in Hungary and 35% in the Netherlands to
nearly 100% in Italy.

The different acceptance rates create additional incentives
for intra-EU movements, known as “asylum shopping”. Asylum seekers are likely
to move to those countries where the probability of acceptance is the highest.
Of course, according to the Dublin III Regulation, member states have the right
to request that other states take the responsibility and thus to send back
applicants. De facto, however, the number of such transfers is very limited. This
not only reflects the fact that the countries on the southern and south-eastern
EU borders are substantially burdened as it is; in addition, transfers are often
impossible because member states cannot comply with the narrow deadlines for
such requests.

A member state “… May, as quickly as possible and in any event
within three months of the date on which the application was lodged …, request
that other Member State take charge of the applicant” (Article 21 (1) Dublin III
Regulation). (In the case of a Eurodac (European dactyloscopy database) hit,
the request shall be sent even within two months of receiving that hit.)