Local Photos/Imago Due to ‘illegal migration’, fixed controls have been in place at the German-Austrian border since 2015 (4 April 2024).
The FDP is increasing the pressure on its coalition partners, especially Alliance 90/The Greens, and increasingly adopting the coalition’s position. If the federal government’s immigration policy is not changed, “democracy will suffer enormous damage,” FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai said after a meeting of the party’s executive committee on Monday. Germany is being overwhelmed “both qualitatively and quantitatively.” There should be no “ban on thinking.”
Obviously, this also meant that the federal demand that refugees be rejected at the border. CDU leader Friedrich Merz made this a condition for continuing talks with the federal and state governments that began last Tuesday. A second round of talks was announced this Tuesday. Prime Minister Olaf said: “Finally mass deportations.” Scholz (SPD) once again offered cooperation with the opposition on this issue on Sunday, without making any specific promises to implement the coalition’s demands. “We have already been rejected at the border, we are already under border control,” he said. ZDF– »Summer Interview«. “Effective border control” is “something I would like to expand further with the support of the opposition.”
On Monday, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin that the government would soon submit its promised legal findings on aspects of asylum law to the federal and state governments. “The main opposition will then decide whether to see this as a basis for reunification,” he added.
at ARDIn the “Berlin Report” program on Sunday evening, CSU Chancellor Markus Söder advocated refusals as a means of reducing “illegal migration.” Söder also advocated the abolition of the individual’s right to asylum, enshrined in the constitution. In the long term, subjective rights should be transformed into “institutional fundamental rights.” The CSU president also mentioned the idea of setting an arbitrary upper limit. Currently, the number of asylum applications is around 300,000, and this number “should be reduced significantly to below 100,000 in the long term.” In the same broadcast, FDP leader Christian Lindner said: “I could adopt that number as my own.”
When the regional parliament called for even more restrictive immigration policies, 27 organizations joined together to appeal to the federal government. They demand that the principles of the rule of law and human rights be upheld. The demand for stricter asylum laws clearly contradicts these values. As stated in the appeal signed by Pro Asyl, Amnesty International, Diakonie and Arbeiterwohlfahrt, Paritätische Gesamtverband, rejections at the internal border “clearly violate European law and human rights.” Wiebke Judith of Pro Asyl explained, “The new asylum law will never satisfy those who want to further divide society. They will continue to spread inhumane hate speech against those who seek protection.”
But the next material deterioration for refugees won’t be long in coming. On Thursday, the Bundestag will first consider a draft bill to implement the so-called asylum and security package of the federal government. As announced by the parliamentary administration on Monday, two draft bills are currently under discussion: one for “improving internal security and asylum” and the other for “improving the fight against terrorism.” The Traffic Light Alliance announced the law changes after a knife attack in Solingen at the end of August that left three dead.
Meanwhile, the AfD parliamentary group has set its priorities for the federal elections in a special session, calling immigration policy the “mother of all problems” (Tino Chrupalla). The group is demanding rejections at the border, rapid deportation of rejected asylum seekers, and “if necessary” construction of a border fence. There should be no asylum procedures for those without an identity document, and, contrary to the Basic Law, only citizen benefits should be provided to German citizens. The AfD wants to provide asylum seekers and refugees with in-kind benefits based on the principle of “bread, bed, soap.”
