German Parliament backs tougher rules for asylum seekers
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MPs nodded through plans to withdraw social support from asylum seekers who were already registered in another EU member state and are slated for deportation.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BERLIN - The German Parliament on Oct 18 approved curbs on the benefits offered to asylum seekers, as Berlin followed other European countries in taking a stricter line on migration.
MPs nodded through plans to withdraw social support from asylum seekers who were already registered in another EU member state and are slated for deportation.
The passage of the new rules marks a turning point in German attitudes towards immigration, almost a decade after former Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country’s doors to refugees.
With the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) making ground in regional elections, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has toughened its stance on new arrivals.
The Oct 18 legislation will also see refugees who temporarily return to their home countries “as a rule” lose their right to protection in Germany.
The same will apply to refugees who commit crimes with anti-Semitic or homophobic motivation.
The new rules were brought forward by the government in August in response to a deadly stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen.
The suspect, a 26-year-old Syrian man with suspected links to the Islamic State
The whole package will also introduce stricter rules on the carrying of knives in public places.
The new measures were “strengthening our country’s internal security in the face of threats”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told MPs.
With a year to go before national elections and anti-immigration parties rising in the polls, the government has been under intense pressure to take a stricter line on immigration.
The benefits restrictions have faced significant criticism from within the government and from opposition parties.
The rules were eased during the legislative process to create exemptions for children and to withdraw support only for cases where removal was actually possible.
Meanwhile the opposition conservatives have said the package had been “hollowed out” and called for migrants to be systematically turned back at the German border.
As well as the new rules agreed on Oct 18, the government has carried out deportations to Afghanistan for the first-time since the Taliban took power.
Germany has also vastly extended border controls to the frontiers with all nine of its neighbours, temporarily suspending elements of the EU’s free movement rules.
Germany already had temporary controls in place along its border with Austria dating back to the migrant crisis in 2015.
“We can do it” was the attitude taken by then-chancellor Dr Merkel to receiving over a million refugees streaming into Germany.
The phrase came to symbolise Germany’s “welcome culture” of taking in migrants, which stood out from other European countries.
European turn
The changing German line comes against the backdrop of hardening attitudes towards migration across Europe in response to the success of far-right parties.
On Oct 17, EU leaders called for urgent new legislation to increase the number and speed of migrant returns across the bloc.
New ways to prevent and counter irregular migration should also be considered, the leaders agreed at a summit in Brussels.
Though not mentioned explicitly, such measures could include so-called return centres outside the EU, modelled on a deal Rome struck with Tirana to send some migrants to Albania for processing.
Speaking at the summit, Mr Scholz called for member states to push forward with the implementation of a new EU migration agreement already agreed earlier in 2024.
The plan hardens border procedures and requires countries to take in asylum seekers from “frontline” states or provide money and resources.
“If we all followed the rules we have together, we would already be much further ahead,” he said. AFP
