refugees
No miracle cure: the difficult migration policy
Recently, more than a million Ukrainian war refugees were staying in Germany. photo
© Soeren Stache/dpa
What to do in view of the increasing number of asylum seekers? The Union is urging action and calling for tightening measures. However, the Greens in particular reject this. And there are legal and practical hurdles.
The municipalities are groaning, warning of overload and demanding more help from the federal government. CDU leader Friedrich Merz is demanding that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) have direct talks after the state elections in Bavaria and Hesse on Sunday “in order to quickly solve the problem of illegal migration to Germany” – at least that’s what Merz recently said on the platform Quote X (formerly Twitter). But is that even conceivable? An overview of current demands.
Safe countries of origin
In the case of countries that are declared as so-called safe countries of origin, it is assumed that there is generally neither persecution nor inhumane or degrading treatment there and that the foreigner concerned is not at risk of serious harm in his or her home country. This currently applies to the member states of the European Union, Ghana, Senegal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. This should enable more straightforward asylum procedures.
The list is now to be expanded to include Georgia and Moldova – which the Greens also support, citing the EU perspective of these countries. In principle, however, they reject the concept; an expansion to the North African Maghreb states is therefore not in sight.
Upper limit
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) recently discussed an “integration limit” for the admission of refugees of around 200,000 people per year. He himself spoke of a “guideline value”. However, such a “limit” cannot currently be more than a politically declared goal, given the individual right to asylum guaranteed in the fundamental right and obligations under international law.
EU asylum reform
After years of largely unsuccessful negotiations, the EU states are currently trying to tighten the common asylum rules. From a German perspective, this is also important because once migrants have reached Europe, they can move relatively freely there. A key point is centers in which people who come from relatively safe countries are to be accommodated in prison-like conditions for usually twelve weeks. Anyone who has no chance of receiving asylum should be sent back from there. However, the German Greens in particular are having difficulty with the planned tightening measures.
Deportations
The demand for more deportations is a long-running issue in the German migration debate. Anyone who does not receive asylum or other protection in this country and is not allowed to remain as a tolerated person for the time being due to illness should have to leave Germany again, even against their will if necessary. However, this requires the willingness of those countries to which people are to be deported, usually the countries of origin, to cooperate. However, they often have little interest in it because it is unpopular among their own population and because those affected also support their families at home financially if possible.
border controls
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) recently announced increased flexible controls at the borders with the Czech Republic and Poland. Similar demands have been coming from the CDU and CSU for a long time. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann and the First Parliamentary Managing Director of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei (CDU), have just campaigned together in the “Bild” newspaper for stationary border controls to Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic – there are on the border with Austria She already.
However, their usefulness as an instrument against unwanted immigration is also doubted. Anyone who requests asylum at the border usually has to have their application examined. Apparently not everyone does that, as the rejections at the Austrian border showed, writes legal scholar Daniel Thym in the “Verfassungsblog”. There is probably a certain deterrent effect. However, experience has shown that entry routes shift when sections are checked and those who are rejected once can try again elsewhere. “There are no statistics as to how many rejected people later enter the country,” writes Thym.
Even Faeser recently told “Welt am Sonntag”: “One should not suggest that asylum seekers will no longer come as soon as there are stationary border controls.” If a person asks for asylum at the border, the asylum application must be examined in Germany. The protection of the EU’s external borders remains crucial. However, it is just as difficult.
Migration agreement
Give and take is the basic idea of so-called migration agreements. Without the country of origin, it is ultimately difficult to take action against unwanted immigration and to enable desired immigration of workers or students, which can also be in the interest of the other side. In Germany, special representative Joachim Stamp (FDP) is supposed to push the issue forward. There is already such an agreement with India, and negotiations are currently underway to conclude it with at least six other countries. Stamp is currently in confidential discussions with several countries, the Federal Ministry of the Interior told the German Press Agency. “Currently, Georgia, Moldova, Kenya, Colombia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan can be mentioned.”
There are similar efforts at the EU level with the possibility of restricting the issuing of visas in the event of a lack of cooperation – but this proves to be difficult in practice given the different interests of the EU states.