“Germany Pact”: top-level discussion in the Chancellery and “migration package”

Shortly after the state elections in Hesse and Bavaria, there are signs of movement on the controversial issue of migration policy. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) asked the Union and representatives of the federal states to a top-level meeting on Friday. He called on the Union and the federal states to work with the government on migration policy. On Wednesday, the government also presented a bill for easier deportations and announced that it would soon lift most of the existing work bans for refugees. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said that with this “migration package” the government was taking important and necessary steps to get the problems better under control.

For months, states and municipalities that have to take care of the accommodation and care of a growing number of people seeking protection have been warning that there is a need for action in migration and asylum policy. Asylum policy also played a significant role in the election campaigns in Hesse and Bavaria, where the traffic light parties suffered losses – although decisions on this are mainly made at the federal level.

Scholz emphasized on Wednesday evening at an economic conference of the SPD parliamentary group that migration policy was “an issue where the state has to show that it has things under control.” “It is important that we work together on this issue.” That’s why he invited the speakers of the Prime Minister’s Conference, Boris Rhein (CDU) and Stephan Weil (SPD), as well as the “opposition leader”, CDU leader Friedrich Merz, to a conversation on Friday evening. Merz accepts the invitation. A spokesman for the Union parliamentary group confirmed to the dpa that they had received an invitation to a discussion about migration.

Bill presented

The heads of government of the federal states will discuss the challenges posed by the increased number of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers at a meeting in Frankfurt am Main from Thursday. The states are demanding that the federal government contribute to the costs based on the number of arrivals, as well as an accelerated return of rejected asylum seekers. Scholz emphasized that there is too much irregular migration to Europe and Germany. At the same time, however, the country also urgently needs an increase in skilled workers, i.e. regular migration.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) presented a draft law on Wednesday, which, according to her ministry, will soon be discussed by the federal cabinet. It aims to reduce the number of deportations that fail at the last moment. In addition, the immigration authorities should be relieved by extended deadlines. The Interior Ministry said that states and associations could now comment on the draft. At the same time, further coordination within the federal government is taking place. The ARD capital studio had previously reported on it.

According to the draft, the maximum duration of immigration detention should be extended from 10 to 28 days. This gave the authorities more time to prepare for a deportation. Scholz said: “This is not an easy step, but one that is necessary if you want to ensure the efficiency of the entire system.” He hopes that the states will make similar suggestions to the federal government in their talks by Friday. “Everything speaks for it when I hear what is being discussed,” said Scholz.

The expulsion of smugglers should also be made easier. For members of criminal organizations, sufficient facts proving membership should be sufficient for expulsion – regardless of an individual criminal court conviction. If a person obliged to leave the country is in custody, if the plans were to be decided in this way, they would no longer have to be informed of deportation in the future. It should also be possible to search apartments for data carriers and documents in order to be able to clarify the identity of a foreigner without any doubt.

Faeser: Significantly limit irregular migration

The coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP states: “We are launching a repatriation offensive in order to implement departures more consistently, in particular the deportation of criminals and those at risk.”

In order to meet the humanitarian responsibility for war refugees from Ukraine and to protect the basic right to asylum, it is necessary to significantly limit irregular migration, said Faeser. In its draft, it also takes up suggestions from a working group of federal, state and local authorities, which was formed after a meeting at the Federal Ministry of the Interior in mid-February. For example, residence permits for those entitled to subsidiary protection should in future be valid for three years rather than just one year. The period of validity of residence permits in the asylum procedure should be extended from three to six months. Both are intended to reduce the burden on the authorities. People who provide valid reasons that they are at risk of serious harm in their country of origin are entitled to subsidiary protection.

“The tightening of the return rules is overdue,” said the deputy chairwoman of the Union parliamentary group, Andrea Lindholz (CSU). Some of what is now contained in Faeser’s draft was already proposed by the Union in 2019, but was blocked by the SPD at the time.

Habeck announced that further work bans for refugees should be abolished. For example, it was agreed “that employment permits for tolerated persons should be issued as a rule in the future, instead of the previous discretionary regulation.” However, this has not yet been spelled out in the form of a draft law. Faeser told the “Rheinische Post” that the federal government had agreed that in the future, refugees who had good prospects of staying would be allowed to work after six months at the latest instead of only after nine months.

“We are also stipulating that in the future an employment permit should generally be issued to those who are tolerated,” said Faeser. However, “anyone who comes from a safe country of origin or whose application for asylum is obviously unfounded is still not allowed to work.”

Faster, more modern and safer

Scholz introduced the term “Germany Pact” during a general debate in the Bundestag and called for a national effort to modernize the country. To this end, the traffic light coalition, opposition, states and municipalities should work together better than before to make Germany faster, more modern and safer.

Most recently, Hesse’s Prime Minister Rhein, the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference, said he would reject the pact if central migration issues were not addressed. After the state elections in Hesse and Bavaria, Merz also made it clear that the federal government had to change its policies.

Between the beginning of January and the end of September, 233,744 people applied for asylum for the first time in Germany, around 73 percent more than in the same period last year.