Conference of Interior Ministers: Faeser does not want any “sham debates” on asylum policy

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser would prefer to talk to her counterparts from the federal states about the adoption of existing draft laws instead of leading “pseudo debates” on asylum policy. “Asylum applications are currently 40 percent lower than last year, deportations are 20 percent higher than last year,” said the SPD politician before the start of the autumn conference of the federal and state interior ministers’ conference in Rheinsberg, Brandenburg. The controls it has now ordered for all German land borders have led to the arrest of 1,600 smugglers and 37,000 people have been turned back. “Action is crucial, not sham debates about asylum law,” said Faeser.

In doing so, it responded to demands from the Union-led interior ministries for tightening asylum and migration policy. These advocate, for example, an expansion of the list of so-called safe countries of origin and a general rejection – including of asylum seekers – at German borders. The proportion of people who come to Germany without a reason for protection remains high, said Saxony-Anhalt’s Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU). “There is therefore no way around the fact that migrants who want to enter Germany from a safe third country will generally be refused entry.” Armenia, India, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are safe countries of origin.

In the first ten months of this year, almost 200,000 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time – around 25 percent fewer than in the same period last year. The federal authorities speak of an asylum application if someone expresses the intention to apply for protection during or after entering the country. The statistics on asylum applications, on the other hand, refer to formal applications submitted to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf). Not everyone who requests asylum subsequently submits an asylum application in Germany.

Faeser refers to ongoing legislative processes

Beyond the asylum issue, Faeser sees a need for action. “This conference of interior ministers offers the opportunity to find cross-party solutions that are now necessary to protect internal security,” she said. In Rheinsberg she wanted to talk about draft laws to protect critical infrastructure, strengthen cybersecurity and facial recognition of terrorist suspects, murderers and rapists, as well as the obligation to store IP addresses.