German bid to close migrant boats loophole could face delay

There are growing doubts Germany will be able to tighten its laws this year, the BBC has learned.

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Facilitating people-smuggling is not technically illegal in Germany if it is to a third country, which the UK is after Brexit.

Germany has agreed to close the loophole by the end of 2025.

But now the Interior Ministry in Berlin says only that it intends to introduce the bill to the German parliament, or Bundestag, by that date – and has stopped short of guaranteeing a timeline for its final approval.

A spokesperson would not be drawn on whether time was running out ahead of the Christmas break – but told the BBC that the federal government had "no influence" over parliamentary process once a bill had been agreed by cabinet.