At their party conference, after a very emotional debate, the Greens supported the party leadership’s course on asylum policy. A motion by the Green Youth, according to which Green government members would no longer be allowed to support tightening of asylum laws, failed. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck warned of a “vote of no confidence” during the debate. The truth is “that this motion calls for people to leave the government.”
“This vote will have consequences for government action, for us in the government,” Habeck said about the Green Youth’s proposal. It is not an amendment, but “it is a vote of no confidence in disguise that actually says leave the government.” This will then “only lead to others making the policy and nothing will change as a result,” warned the Green Party Economics Minister.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in the debate: “We govern because we bear responsibility.” If the Green Youth’s proposal is accepted, “we cannot negotiate”, neither at the EU level nor in the Prime Minister’s Conference nor in the Federal Cabinet.
Numerous young speakers had previously called for approval of the amendment and expressed massive criticism of the traffic light government’s asylum course in Berlin. The new federal spokeswoman for the Green Youth, Katharina Stolla, said there was no reason for further tightening of asylum laws. “Anyone who follows the right will stumble,” said Stolla. She called for “politics out of love for all people and not politics out of love for the coalition partner.” Critics of government policy were loudly applauded.
The party conference finally passed the motion of the Greens’ executive board, which stated: “Control, order and repatriation are part of the reality of an immigration country like Germany.” It also warns that politicians will lose the acceptance of citizens if they do not fulfill their responsibilities.
In order to prevent a scandal, the party executive committee agreed to make some changes to its text of the resolution. It was entitled “Humanity and order: for a proactive, pragmatic and human rights-based asylum and migration policy”. For example, the sentence was deleted: “In addition, where capacities are exhausted, the numbers must also decrease through constitutional and humane measures.”
Three and a half weeks ago, the Green Party politicians Ricarda Lang and Winfried Kretschmann wrote in a joint guest article for the “Tagesspiegel” on the subject of migration to Germany: “If the capacities – like now – reach their limits, the numbers must also fall.” The party leader and the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg emphasized that, with all due humanity, “control and repatriation are part of the reality of an immigration country like Germany.” The Bundestag is scheduled to hold its first reading next Thursday on a federal government bill that aims to “adapt legal regulations that prevent or at least make deportation measures more difficult.”
