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Migration: Union calls for refugee summit STERN.de

Migration: Union calls for refugee summit  STERN.de

Again and again, federal states and municipalities warn of overburdening when accommodating refugees. The Union faction now sees Chancellor Scholz as responsible.

Because of increasing difficulties in accommodating refugees in Germany, the head of the Union faction has called for a summit between Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the federal states.

The parliamentary manager of the Union in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei (CDU), told the “Tagesspiegel am Sonntag” that there had to be talks about “limiting asylum migration and a solution for distribution, care and accommodation”. “But such a summit cannot just be about distributing the costs of admission and accommodation. We must finally talk about effective measures to limit asylum migration,” he said.

The deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, said in Berlin on Sunday that the situation for cities and communities was undoubtedly challenging. One is in exchange with the municipalities and districts. A summit meeting had already taken place on the initiative of Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). “Another one can be done at any time, depending on the situation. Anything that is possible in terms of support, we also make possible.”

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), like other state and municipal representatives, had previously warned of overload due to the increasing number of refugees. Promised funds from the federal government must finally flow, further help is needed, Wüst demanded according to “Welt am Sonntag” in a letter to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). He also complained that real estate provided by the federal government for refugee accommodation was often in an unusable condition.

More asylum applications than since 2016

In Germany, more people applied for asylum last year than at any time since 2016. According to annual statistics from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, almost 218,000 people made such a request for protection in Germany for the first time. That was almost 47 percent more than in 2021. The approximately one million war refugees from Ukraine who were admitted to Germany last year did not have to apply for asylum. You receive immediate temporary protection on the basis of an EU directive.

According to research and calculations by “Bild” (Saturday), accommodation for asylum seekers in Germany is currently 64 percent (43,672 out of 67,877 places) occupied. The newspaper reports, citing statistics from the Federal Ministry of the Interior from January 2023. The rate varies in the federal states, it is lowest in Saxony at 18 percent and highest in Thuringia at 96 percent. According to “Bild”, it was 58 percent in NRW, but there was no information from Saxony-Anhalt.

Survey: 51 percent think that Germany has taken on too many

According to a survey, the admission of refugees is currently controversial among the population. The representative survey by the opinion research institute Insa on behalf of “Bild am Sonntag” showed that 51 percent of Germans believe that Germany has taken in too many refugees. 33 percent consider the number to be appropriate, and 11 percent believe that Germany should take in more people.

Chancellor Scholz emphasized in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag” that Germany needs skilled workers from non-European countries. At the same time, he spoke out in favor of more consistent deportation. “If Germany guarantees protection for people who are being persecuted, those who cannot claim this protection must go back to their homeland,” the SPD politician told the newspaper. The prerequisite for this is that the home countries also take back their compatriots, “that’s what’s often lacking.” In return, legal channels are opened up so that skilled workers from these countries can come to Germany.

Traffic light relies on migration agreements

The traffic light coalition is planning new migration policy measures for this. The federal government’s new special representative for migration agreements, Joachim Stamp, campaigned for migration agreements with partner countries that should be offered a contingent of regular German visas for their citizens – on the condition that they take back criminals, dangerous people and citizens who have entered Germany illegally, i.e. deportations make possible. “We want to create opportunities for a limited and contingent number to be able to apply regularly for the German labor market, provided that those who try it on their own and who have no right of asylum here are taken back by their countries of origin without any problems,” said the FDP Politician of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper”.

He also announced that he would consider moving asylum procedures abroad. This should be done in compliance with the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. “Then people rescued on the Mediterranean would be taken to North Africa for their procedures,” Stamp said. But that requires a lot of diplomacy and a long lead time. It is clear that a country like Libya, for example, cannot be a partner in its current state, he emphasized.

The traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP had already agreed in their coalition agreement to work “for constitutional migration agreements with third countries within the framework of European and international law”. For this purpose, it will be checked whether the determination of the protection status “in exceptional cases” is possible in third countries in compliance with the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Source: Stern

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