nd.The day / nd.The week
Berlin (ots)
The federal government is now throwing its much-heralded paradigm shift in migration policy overboard – and with it a core element of its coalition agreement. In December 2021, the coalition partners emphasized the “humanitarian responsibility” of the “modern immigration country” Germany and committed themselves to “better standards for those seeking protection” in the European asylum procedures and an “end to illegal rejections”, says Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) are now in favor of tightening asylum law at European level, which has been discussed for years: Asylum procedures should be decided directly at the EU’s external borders, thus enabling faster deportations. In the spirit of her CSU predecessor Horst Seehofer, who immediately praised her.
In fact, faster decisions on asylum procedures would benefit refugees. However, it would have to be ensured that these are fair and legally secure, as is also stated in the coalition agreement. In the case of border procedures, this would be more than questionable. Instead, this could result in the existing zones along the border, where human rights are undermined and refugees being unlawfully beaten, humiliated and deported by European officials or unidentified masked people, expanding even further. That the otherwise frugal Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) also agrees and even speaks out in favor of the “physical protection” of the external borders – in plain language for (expensive) border walls and fences, which experience has shown to force those seeking protection onto increasingly dangerous routes, causing injuries and deaths when crossing borders, but do not prevent migration – speaks volumes. Since the traffic light is now consistently continuing the policy of its previous government, nothing stands in the way of a completely sealed-off European Union: No asylum without entry.
And at the federal level, too, the scales are increasingly tilting in favor of a rigid law-and-order policy. During the last deliberations on the migration packages in the Bundestag, it became increasingly clear that the promised new beginning and the simplification of procedures should apply more to skilled workers from abroad than to people who have to flee from war, hunger and persecution from their homeland . But there were also slight improvements for the latter, as in the form of the right to stay for those who were tolerated, albeit with more restrictions than was initially foreseeable.
In the run-up to the long-demanded refugee summit between the federal and state governments in the presence of the Federal Chancellor next Wednesday, it is now clear: For the federal ministers, a “modern immigration country” is primarily an efficient deportation country. The statements by Deputy Government Spokesman Wolfgang Büchner also point in this direction, who announced in advance that the most vehement demand from the federal states and municipalities – more money – “will not be the focus” of the consultations, but an “orderly and structured process for admission of refugees at all levels of government”. One is “confident” to come to joint appointments.
It is honorable that the Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) interferes in this unanimous song with a very concrete proposal that goes in a completely different direction. He calls for all asylum seekers who came to Germany after 2014 and have lived here for at least three years “without objection” to be recognized across the board. The traffic light could implement this without loss of face, since it would basically be an extension of the right to stay that has already been decided. It would also relieve the administration enormously. Under the given circumstances, however, it hardly seems realistic. They prefer rejection instead of a humanistic and unbureaucratic escape policy.
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