With several Federal Council initiatives, Bavaria wants to achieve a tightening of asylum and migration policy that has long been called for. These include the establishment of an “integration boundary” and a change to the basic right to asylum. “Germany needs a change in asylum,” said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Monday after a cabinet meeting in Munich. Say yes to humanity, but resolutely say no to uncontrolled immigration. Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) explained that the “integration limit” must be based on the performance and integration capabilities of the municipalities, for example when it comes to schools and daycare centers. “The number of asylum seekers must fall significantly again.”
The state government is also calling on the federal government to initiate a fundamental change in asylum law. “Germany can only continue to live up to its humanitarian responsibility if our limited resources are used in a targeted manner for the people who are actually in need of protection. The state government is therefore calling for appropriate legal changes so that the national legislature is given more leeway,” says the cabinet report. Instead of granting “individual and unlimited” protection in Germany during international crises, one should work with firm acceptance commitments from the EU. In addition, leeway should be used to exclude more criminals from protected status.
When asked whether this would mean an abolition of the individual’s basic right to asylum, Herrmann said: “We have to carefully weigh and discuss this.” In any case, it must be restricted to the extent that the individual basic right to asylum cannot be completely applied to a civil war country with millions of inhabitants. In a situation when tens of thousands are making their way from Syria or Afghanistan because of civil war situations, it would be more necessary to discuss quotas as to how many people should be taken in from a country. Bavaria is also calling for more consistent border protection with possible rejections even if migrants request asylum at the border. Two thirds of asylum seekers arrive here without having been registered in another EU country, said Herrmann. This is a violation of European law.
To make it easier and quicker to deport foreigners who are required to leave the country, Bavaria is calling for so-called federal exit centers at major German airports. In addition, asylum procedures and asylum court proceedings are to be accelerated and the list of so-called safe countries of origin is to be expanded to include Algeria, Armenia, India, Morocco and Tunisia. And finally, the state government is demanding that war refugees from Ukraine only be granted benefits in accordance with the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act instead of citizens’ benefit. According to Söder, the Free State is on schedule to introduce its own payment card for asylum seekers: it should be ready at the end of March and beginning of April. Asylum seekers should then be able to use the payment card to pay in stores in Bavaria, similar to using an EC card.