After the top meeting of the traffic light coalition partners, FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai called for tangible changes in the management of immigration. “Germany needs a new course in migration policy. We urgently need a migration policy that is in line with reality, is in the interest of our country and does not ignore the concerns of the citizens,” Djir-Sarai told the German Press Agency on Thursday Berlin. He warned that the “catastrophic mistakes of the Merkel years must not be repeated.”
The leaders of the SPD, Greens and FDP discussed Wednesday evening at a coalition committee with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). The overburdening of immigrants complained about by municipalities and states should also have been an issue. The countries repeatedly complained that the capacities for accommodation and integration were exhausted and that these problems could not be solved with money alone. In view of the increased number of refugees, the federal states are also pushing for easier deportation of people without a right to stay in Germany. It is also being discussed whether other countries should be classified as so-called safe countries of origin.
Greens have a different focus
Coalition circles said that the SPD and FDP are currently relatively close when it comes to refugee policy. The Greens, on the other hand, focused primarily on financial aid for municipalities that were particularly burdened by accommodation and care. On May 10, the federal and state governments want to discuss the distribution of the costs for the accommodation and care of asylum seekers and refugees again.
According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf), 80,978 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time in the first quarter of 2023. Of these, 5,817 applications concerned children under the age of one year. Refugees from the Ukraine do not have to apply for asylum in Germany or other EU countries, but are accepted via the so-called mass influx directive.
The federal government wants to inform the representatives of the parliamentary groups in the Committee on Internal Affairs this Friday about the German position in the ongoing negotiations on the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). Since there are Member States that are not willing to accept asylum seekers from countries with external EU borders such as Italy or Greece via a solidarity mechanism, consideration is being given to what other possible contributions they could make.
FDP relies on World Balkan rule
In addition to the federal states, responsibility for deportations rests primarily with Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and the special representative for migration agreements, Joachim Stamp (FDP). The FDP wants Stamp to have something to offer his interlocutors in his forthcoming negotiations with states that should cooperate more in taking back their citizens who are required to leave the country. This is probably one of the reasons why she is campaigning for the so-called Western Balkans rule, which provides for a quota for the entry of workers, to be extended to other countries.
In the days after the coalition committee at the end of March, there was further public debate about the decisions made there on specifications for heating in new buildings. The SPD and Greens in particular attach importance to the fact that this should not be the new style. That’s probably why the SPD leader, Saskia Esken, said on Thursday: “You see us in a good mood and well rested – I think that’s the news.”
