More border controls and rejections – in the struggle for a stricter migration policy, the federal government has submitted a proposal to the Union. Group leader Merz reacted skeptically.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has ordered temporary controls at all German land borders in order to further reduce the number of illegal entries. The additional controls are to begin on September 16 and initially last for six months, the Federal Interior Ministry announced on Monday.
The ministry cited the limitation of irregular migration as well as the protection of internal security against current threats from Islamist terrorism and cross-border crime as reasons for the controls now ordered. “We are doing everything we can to protect the people in our country against this,” said Faeser.
Federal Minister of the Interior promises more rejections
After the migration meeting with the Union faction and state representatives last week, the government also developed a “model for effective rejections that comply with European law,” the ministry said. This model goes beyond the rejections that are currently taking place. Faeser said she had informed the Union faction of this and offered confidential discussions on the matter. Such a discussion with the CDU/CSU faction and the chair of the Conference of Minister Presidents is planned for this Tuesday.
Union wants more details before next round of talks
However, the Union did not initially give its consent. We are currently hearing “quite contradictory information from the federal government about what it really wants now,” said parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz in Berlin. It is unclear whether there will actually be widespread rejections at the borders. “We want the federal government to tell us clearly, preferably in writing, what it really intends to do now before these talks tomorrow at the latest.”
The Union will not “get involved in relativization or any kind of limited method of rejection,” stressed the CDU chairman. “If the federal government wants us to go down this path together, then it will only be possible if we really reject people on a comprehensive scale at Germany’s external borders.”
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt explained that Faeser (SPD) had announced that he would go beyond the current situation. “But that is not enough,” he said. “It must fundamentally be about rejection at the border, then we are prepared to make decisions about this together with the traffic light coalition.”
Rejections at German land borders currently only occur in certain cases: if someone is banned from entering the country or does not apply for asylum. Rejections at Germany’s internal borders are generally only possible where there are controls directly at the border.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, more than 30,000 people have been turned back since October. In mid-October 2023, Federal Minister of the Interior Faeser ordered stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Such controls, which are justified by irregular migration, have been in place at the German-Austrian land border since September 2015. The newly ordered controls directly at the border affect the land borders with France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The government is still keeping quiet about details
Faeser initially left open what the federal government’s new proposal for rejections would look like. She wanted to present it to the Union first, said the Interior Minister. She had spoken to the parliamentary manager of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei (CDU), on the phone about this.
In the past, there had been different ideas from the political sphere, such as that these should be extended to all foreigners without identity papers or to asylum seekers who have already been registered as asylum seekers in another country.
However, Austria does not want to “accept people who are rejected from Germany,” said conservative Interior Minister Gerhard Karner to the “Bild” and the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.” “There is no room for maneuver.” Karner argues that Germany does have the right to send people back if another EU country is responsible for their asylum application. However, this requires a formal procedure and the consent of the member state concerned. Rejections as part of controls at the EU’s internal borders are not permitted, says Karner three weeks before the Austrian parliamentary elections.
The head of the CSU Bundestag, Alexander Dobrindt, called on Austria to take action itself. “Everyone must abide by the law again. And that means that our Austrian friends will also come to the conclusion that they will start to carry out checks at their borders and also turn people away,” said the CSU regional group leader in Berlin.
Response to acts of violence by immigrants
The debate about irregular migration and deportations has also become more intense due to several violent acts. In Solingen, three people were killed and eight others injured in a suspected Islamist knife attack at a town festival in August. A 26-year-old Syrian is in custody for the attack. In Mannheim, at the end of May, an Afghan injured five members of the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa and a police officer with a knife; the police officer died.
Greens: We want solutions, not slogans
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said that we should not “let ourselves be confused by those who are now trying to make us believe that the nation state can regulate something better in Europe on its own.” In years of negotiations, the German government has done everything it can “to ensure that we get a common European asylum system underway in Europe,” she said, referring to the agreement on a reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The reform provides, among other things, that requests for protection from people from countries with a low recognition rate should be examined at the EU’s external borders.
The Greens are ready to engage in talks on migration issues, said party leader Omid Nouripour. However, the proposals discussed must be legal, feasible and effective. “We don’t want to produce slogans, but solutions.”
FDP believes far-reaching changes are necessary
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai said after a meeting of his party’s executive committee: “We need a fundamental reorganization of migration policy in Germany.” There should be no taboos in thinking about this. The recent deportation of criminals to Afghanistan in an airplane showed what is actually possible. “Where there is political will, there are ways,” he said.
Source: Stern
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