German CDU calls for trial period for border rejections
Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU-EPP) floated the idea of turning back refugees at the border whose first EU country of entry was not Germany for a three-month trial period – an idea that may sound familiar to the governing parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government.
Following a recent knife attack by an asylum seeker who first registered in Bulgaria, Germany’s migration policy has come under scrutiny from all sides of the political spectrum, fuelling the debate ahead of the recent state elections, which resulted in a far-right victory.
Criticised by the coalition government for allegedly taking advantage of the situation, Merz proposed implementing his original demand to turn back refugees under the Dublin regime – those who entered the EU’s borders through another country – at the German border for three months.
“If the government coalition finds [returns at the borders] so difficult to accept, then I propose that we initially carry out these returns for three months from 1 October,” Merz proposed in a parliamentary debate on Thursday.
Just two days earlier, his party had broken off talks with the government coalition on tougher immigration measures, arguing that no proposal had been put forward that would “actually lead to more rejections at the border than usual.”
Merz and his conservative party have been relentlessly pushing the government to tighten Germany’s border controls since the knife attack three weeks ago. At the moment, the opposition party is comfortably ahead in opinion polls, with around 33% of the vote, compared to 28% for the ruling three-party coalition of the SPD (14%), the Greens (11%) and the liberal FDP (3%).
However, the idea of outright refusing migrants under the Dublin regime for a trial period had already been discussed within the governing coalition. According to Bild, such an idea was brought up in the consultation meeting between the two sides, but the negotiations failed anyway.
In practice, the Dublin Regulation does not provide for the direct rejection of refugees at the border, even if they have first applied for asylum in another EU state.
“Germany may only transfer a person to the responsible country after an administrative court has given the go-ahead. […] This preliminary procedure must be completed before every Dublin transfer,” wrote Daniel Thym, European and International Law professor at the University of Konstanz.
The Federal Police is also uncomfortable with the idea of implementing such a policy change without proper backing from the political level.
Der Spiegel reported that the head of the German police union, Jochen Kopelke, had asked Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD/S&D) to promise “official legal protection” for the involved officers if such a rejection idea would be implemented.
(Kjeld Neubert | Euractiv.de)
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