German interior ministers agree on the deportation of “endangerers”
Published: Friday, Jun 21st 2024, 15:30
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When it comes to German migration policy, the interior ministers of the federal states basically have the same goal as the government in Berlin, but there are differences of opinion on how to get there. At the end of the three-day meeting of the interior ministers in Potsdam on Friday, there was agreement that criminals and Islamist "Gefährder" should be deported back to Afghanistan and Syria.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that she was already in talks with several countries. As Germany currently has no relations with either the Taliban rulers in Kabul or the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, these deportations are likely to be organized via neighbouring countries.
Faeser said that in addition to clarifying the practical issues, a reassessment of the situation in Syria was also necessary. She was sure that she would be able to resolve this with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in the near future. No new security assessment was necessary for deportations to Afghanistan. Faeser emphasized: "We all have the same interest in reducing irregular migration in Germany."
The Foreign Office's current situation report on the situation in the country of origin forms the basis for the immigration authorities' decision on deportation. Germany has not deported anyone to Afghanistan since the radical Islamist Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021.
In the first five months of this year, 103,467 people applied for asylum at the Office for Migration and Refugees for the first time - a decrease of 17.6 percent compared to the same period last year. The decline is probably partly due to the border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland that were ordered in mid-October.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised the minister presidents on Thursday evening that he would continue to examine possible models for asylum procedures in countries outside the European Union and present concrete results by December. At the same time, he dampened expectations that this could lead to a significant reduction in the number of asylum applications.
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour told the German Press Agency: "What is needed are faster procedures based on the rule of law and the consistent implementation of existing law, such as the European asylum law reform, and not sham solutions that have already failed in the UK." The UK wants to bring asylum seekers who have entered the country illegally to Rwanda, which would then not only take over the asylum procedures itself, but would also grant protection or take care of deportation.
©Keystone/SDA
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