Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign & European Affairs;
In a statement released on Wednesday, Luxembourg's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs reacted to recent criticism from the Luxembourg Refugee Collective (Lëtzebuerger Flüchtlingsrot - LFR) regarding the application process for Afghan nationals seeking international protection.
The Foreign Ministry rejected claims, made by the LFR on 27 October 2021, that the administrative decision-making process concerning such applications had been completely suspended.
The Ministry added that it continues to rule on cases where the legal conditions for granting international protection are met, as well as for cases resulting in a decision of incompetence or inadmissibility.
Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, on 15 August 2021, 39 Afghan nationals have been granted international protection in Luxembourg.
However, the Ministry acknowledged that certain decisions are being held in abeyance pending a clarification of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan in order to assess the international protection needs of those concerned.
Given the change in circumstances on the ground, certain cases are therefore kept in abeyance "in the sole interest of those concerned", on the one hand allowing the Ministry to analyse each case in depth on a case-by-case basis in order to eventually reach a positive decision, and on the other hand allowing the lawyers involved to submit to the Ministry new elements in favour of their client.
The Ministry added that the administrative courts have effectively adopted this stance by extending various deadlines.
As such, the Ministry argued that making an immediate decision relating to the issues in question would risk prejudicing the Afghan nationals concerned.
The Ministry also recalled that a common European approach is being developed by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). This approach is designed to ensure the convergence of the decision-making process in all EU Member States.
