The federal government hopes the immigration agreement will improve immigration control, now that it has reached a deal with Kenya. Meanwhile, the two sides continue to argue over border protests.
The federal government wants to sign a migration agreement with Kenyan representatives. The signing is expected to take place during Kenyan President William Samoe Ruto’s visit to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The agreement is intended to facilitate the recruitment of skilled workers in Kenya and to make it easier to repatriate rejected asylum seekers from Germany to the East African country. The federal government is also planning a similar agreement with Uzbekistan. Samarkand will be closed on Sunday and Monday when Scholz visits.
Currently, several states and migration agreements are being negotiated. These are seen as key to regulating immigration to Germany and the return of rejected asylum seekers. The agreement with Kenya in East Africa is expected to be signed by Interior Minister Nancy Paezer and Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi. However, Kenya and Uzbekistan are not among the major countries of origin for asylum seekers. Such agreements or partnerships already exist with India, Georgia and Morocco.
To persuade countries to do this, the government has appointed a special representative. According to a response to the government’s request in June, FDP politician Joachim Stamp has been holding talks with foreign governments since last year, including Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia, Ghana and the Philippines.
The parties continue to argue.
Meanwhile, the debate within the party continues over radical measures in immigration policy. After the failure of the top meeting of the government, coalition, federal states and allied powers, CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz proposed testing the rejection of asylum seekers at the border for at least three months, which he had requested.
The point is that Germany is not really responsible for the asylum procedures of these migrants under EU rules, since it is surrounded only by EU countries and therefore safe third countries.
Merz rejected Chancellor Scholz’s accusation that he orchestrated the collapse of the migration conference. “It’s the exact opposite,” the CDU chairman said at an evening event in Berlin. “We will take responsibility for finding solutions,” Merz stressed, speaking on behalf of the CDU and the coalition parliamentary group. But that requires “working together to find solutions that are at least as likely to actually solve the problem.”
Faeser argues. Government line
But Interior Minister Faeser is sticking to the government line. “Do you know what we think about this proposal? It is very difficult to implement under European law,” the SPD politician said yesterday evening on the sidelines of an event in Berlin. On the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner” she explained why: the proposal requires a state of emergency.
“You wouldn’t think I’m declaring that the police are no longer in control of the situation,” she said. That’s scary. Plus, the initial reception centers are sometimes only 50 percent full. “That means you can’t legally prove that there’s an emergency.”
Faeser urged the coalition to return to the negotiating table. She repeatedly stressed how unfortunate the breakdown in talks was. Asked if she could decide on her own concept without a federal government with a majority coalition in the federal parliament, she said, “No, the states need a federal government.”
Union demands “change of course”
The coalition stressed its willingness to continue discussions, but also did not deviate from its own line. CDU Secretary-General Carsten Linnemann said on air that the coalition was not interested in the election campaign before the Brandenburg elections, but in the issues at hand. “That’s why we are willing to talk to each other every day. But of course there has to be change. And what is happening now is of course not a fundamental change.”
