“Especially on the sensitive issue of migration, it would be desirable if we government parties could come to a broadly supported compromise with the Union,” said the parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner, to the “Tagesspiegel” on Monday. However, the SPD will “not support populist and ineffective demands such as the one for an upper limit,” he added.
According to their leader Omid Nouripour, the Greens are ready to “talk to everyone within the democratic spectrum about how to find solutions.” They are also prepared to “jump over our own shadow”. However, the upper limit demanded by the Union is “static and makes no sense and is not compatible with the Basic Law,” said Nouripour. But “our hand remains outstretched.”
FDP General Secretary Djir-Sarai found words of praise for the Union’s migration policy ideas, which were close to his own party. “I personally share the view that the democratic parties need to work together on this issue,” said the liberal.
Djir-Sarai called on the coalition partner the Greens to reach an agreed position within the party on migration policy. “That’s what I expect from a governing party,” he said. The FDP politician accused the Greens of hindering the coalition’s work through internal diversity on the question of how to deal with the increasing number of refugees – but the coalition partners could not negotiate with “Group X and Group Y of the Greens” on migration policy.
Nouripour defended the Greens against criticism. “Everything currently indicates that there is a competition between certain parties: Who is nastier to the Greens?” he said. This is “not necessarily the political culture we want.”
At the weekend, Merz described the refugee crisis as an “explosive for the cohesion of our society” and offered the coalition a common solution: “Let’s do this together. We have to solve this problem.” Merz recalled the asylum compromise found in 1993 by the then ruling Union and the then opposition SPD, which led to a change in the Basic Law.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt confirmed the Union’s proposals for migration policy on Monday. “First of all, it’s about accepting that there is a limit in Germany,” Dobrindt told Welt TV. Added to this would be the impact of the list of safe countries of origin, controls at the German borders and the change in support for refugees from cash to benefits in kind.
