analysis
After the tough course of CSU Minister Seehofer, the traffic light coalition has made a different migration policy. A mammoth task. Is Interior Minister Faeser making progress?
“I think one should ask oneself these days: What would one do with one’s own family if there was a war? Wouldn’t one then also leave the country?” Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser showed full understanding for refugees in an interview with ZDF in April. The social democrat rejects upper limits for refugees. Their justification: There can be no upper limits for humanity.
Elsewhere, the minister explained, with a view to the more than one million people who fled to Germany before the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, and with a view to the increasing number of asylum seekers from other countries: “That worries me.” The SPD politician knows that housing and caring for refugees is becoming a major challenge in many places. While cities and municipalities are calling for more money, Faeser is looking for a solution to relieve the municipalities in the long term.
Their hope rests on the reform of the EU asylum system. In the Report from Berlin she speaks of an agreement within the traffic light coalition to strive for asylum procedures at the EU’s external border.
Hardliner Seehofer
The interior minister is standing in the autumn elections in Hesse as the SPD’s top candidate. She is aware that her result also depends on how successful she is perceived as a manager in the federal government. The minister is caught between humanitarian responsibility and the goal of avoiding overloading society by taking in people seeking protection.
Immigration is the “mother of all problems,” Faeser’s predecessor Horst Seehofer reportedly said in 2018. The CSU politician thus triggered a broad public debate, although he was already known for his restrictive attitude to the issue of migration. Seehofer campaigned for a tightening of the asylum law, for an upper limit for refugees and for people without a right to stay to be deported more quickly. Seehofer’s idea from the same year to house migrants in closed asylum centers while their applications are processed was particularly controversial. There was an outcry at the time, especially in the SPD.
The traffic light coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals has undertaken a paradigm shift in their coalition agreement – there should be a new beginning in migration and integration policy. The government wants to transform Germany into a modern immigration country. According to the plans, illegal migration should be reduced and regular migration made possible.
Incentives for illegal migration?
“I would like to actively shape migration and integration myself, instead of just being reluctant to manage it, as I have been for the past 16 years,” said Faeser last summer, when she presented the so-called “opportunity right of residence” as a step towards the traffic light’s new migration policy. The regulation, which has since become law, grants well-integrated tolerated foreigners the right to stay.
The minister also presented plans for easier naturalization. The simplified rules for the immigration of skilled workers, which the federal government agreed on at the end of March, also bear Faeser’s signature. When it comes to deportations, however, it is becoming more difficult for the lawyer from Hesse to actively shape it.
Faeser emphasized several times that dangerous people and serious criminals must be consistently deported to their home countries. But in the case of deportations to Afghanistan, for example, the minister herself put the brakes on, because those affected are at risk in the country ruled by the Taliban. In March, there were signs of Faeser rethinking when she announced that she would examine the possibility of deportations. For the time being, however, the deportation stop remained.
The verdict of the opposition Union is clear: According to their verdict, the federal government and Faeser are setting a massive incentive for illegal migration with the policy of paradigm shift. The domestic policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Alexander Throm, believes that Faeser is compliantly implementing the coalition agreement and accepts that Germany will be overburdened. The opposition politician describes this as “not particularly responsible”.
search for a compromise
For years, the European Union has been trying to reform its failed asylum system. In essence, it is about agreeing on how asylum seekers are to be distributed fairly among all 27 EU member states. Germany is the destination of many asylum seekers and therefore has a particular interest in reducing so-called secondary migration within the EU. It is therefore not surprising that the German interior minister has been involved here for months and is actively looking for allies.
In March, she met with the counterparts of five influential EU countries that are also potential host countries – France, Italy, Sweden, which currently holds the EU Council Presidency, Spain and Belgium, whose turn it will soon be. The EU roadmap envisages that all EU members agree by June. After that, the negotiations with the European Parliament could take place. The aim is to conclude negotiations for a new asylum system by spring 2024 at the latest – i.e. before the European elections.
Asylum procedures at the EU external border
The positions of the EU members on a reform of the asylum system are still far apart. However, in view of the renewed increase in migration pressure in many EU countries, it does not seem unrealistic that a solution could be found.
In any case, Faeser sees a “historic momentum” in an agreement. She speaks openly of an idea that resembles the once highly controversial plans of her predecessor Seehofer: the minister wants to carry out asylum procedures at the EU’s external border in the future. In the event of a rejection, expedited returns from asylum centers should be possible. If no agreement is reached, Faeser sees freedom of movement in the Schengen area at risk. Internal border controls would be the result.
Although the EU Commission supports the interior minister’s plan, there is still no sign of an agreement at EU level. There is not even agreement within the traffic light coalition. Although Faeser initially reported that the government partners are behind the proposal, the Greens in particular still need to vote.
In principle, the plan to move asylum procedures to the EU’s external border seems to fit little with the actually planned paradigm shift of the traffic light. The human rights organization Pro Asyl is outraged and sees this as a breach of human rights. The aid organization Bread for the World fears that asylum seekers could be held in camps under prison-like conditions while their applications are being processed.
The opposition has also warmed up to criticism of the interior minister. Clara Bünger, a member of the Left Bundestag, compares Faeser’s approach to that of her predecessor. She is playing “the same game as Mr. Seehofer” with a policy of isolation and disenfranchisement of migrants. Instead of a paradigm shift, there is a “keep it up”.