refugees
Habeck for migration agreements with transit countries
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck: “What we are experiencing at the moment is a catastrophe, a moral and ethical catastrophe.” photo
© Georg Wendt/dpa
The debate about effective measures in refugee policy continues. Vice Chancellor Habeck proposes migration agreements with countries of origin and transit. Is that enough for the coalition partner FDP?
Instead, it’s about providing incentives to keep people traveling through, said Habeck. People from these countries could then be brought to Europe and Germany in a controlled manner. Many “wild proposals” in the current debate, however, are only likely to cause people’s next disappointment, said Habeck, who is also Vice Chancellor.
Habeck: Populist slogans do not solve the problem
Habeck called for honesty in refugee policy. According to him, a binding distribution system would be helpful not only in Germany, but in Europe. “It would be a sensible task in Europe to argue and talk for it and not to pretend that the problem could be solved with populist slogans.”
“What we have to do are concrete measures that help people, help communities, and help the political system as a whole,” said Habeck. Hollow sayings and phrases wouldn’t help. The conditions at the EU’s external borders are not good, he said, referring to the deaths of people in the Mediterranean as well as on Lesbos and Lampedusa. “It is a catastrophe, a moral and ethical catastrophe, what we are experiencing at the moment.”
FDP urges the Greens to rethink
The FDP is now pushing for a rethink among the co-governing Greens in favor of greater restrictions on migration to Germany. Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai told the German Press Agency: “We need a cross-party solution to the challenges in migration policy.” In this context, the Greens are called upon to give up their “blockades”.
“Whether with reforms at the European level or with the classification of safe countries of origin: the Greens are a security risk for the country in migration policy and, through unrealistic positions, make consistent government action and cross-party solutions more difficult,” criticized Djir-Sarai. The Greens urgently need to rethink this.