Germany to make it easier to send migrants home

Telegraph

5 days ago

Germany's new government has announced plans to designate countries as 'safe' for migrants by ministerial decree, in its latest move to clamp down on illegal immigration.
The new rules mean that the administration in Berlin will no longer require the approval of the country's upper house before declaring a country safe.
In the past, the Green Party repeatedly used its seats in the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house, to frustrate efforts by the executive to designate North African countries as safe for migrants to be sent back to.
Friedrich Merz, the chancellor, won a national election in February by pledging to crack down on migration and turn away asylum seekers at the border.
Migration is among German voters' biggest concerns and a backlash against arrivals has contributed to a rise in the popularity of the hard-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
The new rules were announced by Alexander Dobrindt, the interior minister, on Wednesday, but they still need to pass through both houses of the German federal legislature.
Mr Dobrindt is understood to be planning to declare Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco as safe once the legal change comes into effect.
The reform would allow German authorities to process asylum applications from North African countries in a matter of weeks, thereby avoiding the drawn-out process for regular asylum claims, which typically takes up to two years.
The move would also limit applicants' access to legal representation.
Filiz Polat, a senior figure in the Greens, described the move as 'a far-reaching encroachment on individual rights with serious consequences for refugees'.
'Anyone who acts in this way is shaking the foundations of our rule of law,' she added.
The announcement comes in a week that Germany's new government suffered its first major setback in its efforts to deter migrants and refugees from entering the country.
Mr Dobrindt, a member of Mr Merz's conservative CDU/CSU bloc, issued a decree on his first day in office instructing border police to turn back all undocumented migrants at Germany's land borders.
Border pushback
However, a state court in Berlin sided with three Somali asylum seekers, ruling that the German government did not have the right to reject them without first hearing their asylum claims.
Confusion now reigns over the legality of the border pushback, but Mr Merz's government has insisted it will maintain the policy until a federal court rules on the matter.
Following a series of deadly attacks by migrants at the start of the year, Mr Merz had pledged to stop all irregular migration at Germany's land borders if elected.
Public dissatisfaction over high levels of migration has strengthened Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has repeatedly courted controversy with its views on Islam.
The most recent incident involved a social media post addressed to 'all Muslims', stating that 'whatever you eat, your food was fertilised with pig s---'. The post was later deleted, with party leadership calling it unacceptable.
After launching his chancellorship with a whirlwind of European diplomacy, Mr Merz has flown to Washington for a first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday.
Amid US threats to impose heavy sanctions on the EU – and US president's repeated jibes about German freeloading on American security – the visit is being closely watched in Europe's largest economy.
The German press has been full of advice for the chancellor ahead of the visit.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany's leading liberal newspaper, advised him to avoid 'unnecessary arguments', while other outlets have reported that Mr Merz prepared meticulously for the meeting over several weeks.
Mr Merz, who speaks fluent English and previously worked for US financial giant BlackRock, has expressed confidence that he can win over Mr Trump, stating that he 'understands how Americans tick'.