It’s a kind of counter-summit. The Union faction has invited district administrators and mayors from all over Germany to a “municipal summit” on refugee policy. More than 200 have agreed, half of them belong to neither the CDU nor the CSU. The meeting is to take place on Thursday evening in the hall of a Bundestag building. It is also a reaction to the refugee summit hosted by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) in mid-February.
Faeser’s meeting had ended without any significant results. The representatives of the municipalities were disappointed – also because Olaf Scholz did not feel compelled to take part in the meeting despite the explosiveness. Now CDU leader Friedrich Merz wants to show that he takes the needs of the municipalities more seriously than the chancellor.
The Union parliamentary group has issued “We are listening” as the motto of its summit. There will not only be a panel discussion with local politicians, but also an “open microphone” item on the agenda, where guests can voice their wishes and needs.
20 Union MPs saw it differently
When it comes to taking in refugees, the cities and communities are “increasingly reaching their limits,” says Merz, “calls for help to the federal government go largely unheeded.” Letters from mayors and district administrators to the Federal Chancellor “simply went unanswered”. A look at the numbers should be enough “to make the German government understand the extent of the problem: On average, around 30,000 asylum seekers per month are currently coming to Germany,” says Merz. But the traffic light argues about how to react to it.
However, the CDU and CSU have long argued much more violently about the issues of migration and integration than the traffic light coalition is doing now. At times, the continuation of the faction community was even up for debate. There were also significant differences within the CDU. To put it politely, Merz was not enthusiastic about Angela Merkel’s refugee policy in 2015/2016.
Last December, one could still experience an offshoot of these old debates in the Bundestag. In the vote on the residence law, 20 Union MPs abstained instead of rejecting the law – like the majority of the parliamentary group. Among those who abstained were many well-known Christian Democrats such as Armin Laschet, Hermann Gröhe, Helge Braun, Norbert Röttgen, Monika Grütters and Annette Widmann-Mauz. Some called them “the Merkelians” after the vote.
Above all, the Union wants to reduce the number of refugees
But Merz has since tried to close the ranks. There were two so-called faction-open meetings. In the first, MEPs discussed asylum policy, in the second, nationality law. In the meantime, the parliamentary group has agreed on common views across the old borders. They are set out in an eleven-page “position paper” entitled “For humanity and order in asylum and refugee policy.” CSU regional group chief Alexander Dobrindt wants to present it to local politicians on Thursday.
In the paper, the Union faction expressly acknowledges the fundamental right to asylum and the Geneva Refugee Convention. “Our Christian image of humanity demands support for people in need,” it says right on the first page. But then the main thing is to reduce the number of incoming refugees. “In order for Germany to be able to meet its humanitarian responsibility, irregular migration must be limited and noticeably reduced through effective measures,” it says.
Among other things, the Union wants to “expand the European border protection agency Frontex into a real border police and coast guard with sovereign powers” and set up “European-managed decision-making centers at the EU’s external borders” “in which it should be checked whether there is a right to asylum or not”. However, those who have a right to stay in Germany should be offered “all the options for successful integration”.
The Union faction also advocates the establishment of a “work and stay” agency. At this new federal agency for immigration, specialists should receive “service from a single source” from job placement, checking the requirements for entry, to the necessary visa and the residence permit after arrival in Germany, according to the position paper. In order for this to succeed, this agency should take over all immigration procedures that are currently being carried out by the German diplomatic missions, the federal states and the municipalities and which are not asylum procedures.
“We want to discuss our proposals with the representatives of the cities and districts,” says Merz. After Easter, the Union faction will then “bring the conclusions from our meetings in the form of a motion to the German Bundestag”. The Union faction – since it has been in the opposition – can’t do more.