Asylum: CDU politicians: Tougher action against illegal migrants

After his controversial asylum initiative, the CDU politician Thorsten Frei spoke out in favor of tougher action against refugees coming to Europe by sea. “It must be possible to reject illegal migrants on Europe’s coasts,” Frei told the “Welt”.

If boats are apprehended in international waters in the Mediterranean, the people on board would of course be rescued. “But the journey then does not lead to a European shore, but back to where they came from.”

When asked whether he was in favor of legalizing so-called pushbacks, Frei said: “If someone is apprehended without protection in international waters,” the voyage does not have to lead to a European port. “Emotionally charged, unclear legal terms such as pushbacks” are not very helpful for a factual debate. Pushbacks, i.e. rejections of people seeking protection at the external borders, are illegal under international law.

His last attempt at asylum

At the beginning of the week, the parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag had already proposed a change in the system of asylum policy. In a guest article for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, he advocated abolishing the individual’s right to apply for asylum on German soil.

It should be replaced by quotas for taking in refugees in Europe. These 300,000 to 400,000 refugees per year should be selected directly from abroad and then distributed in Europe.

Frei’s move had been sharply criticized by the traffic light parties. The federal government made it clear that it did not want to move away from the individual right to asylum.