Latest news with #Faeser
Straits Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
German minister expects sharp fall in asylum seekers this year
FILE PHOTO: German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser speaks during a session of the lower house of parliament Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, January 31, 2025. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen/File Photo BERLIN - The number of asylum seekers in Germany is expected to hit its lowest level in more than a decade this year, outgoing interior minister Nancy Faeser told newspapers on Sunday. "If irregular migration continues to be reduced as sharply as we have managed to do in the last two years, then the number of asylum seekers in Germany could reach around 100,000 this year," Faeser told the newspapers of Funke media group. According to the federal migration office, the last time there were fewer than 100,000 asylum applications was in 2012. In 2024, there were just under 251,000 applications, compared with around 352,000 the previous year. Faeser's successor, Alexander Dobrindt of the conservative CSU, has promised to ramp up border controls and increase the number of people rejected at the border shortly after taking office next week. "Illegal migration numbers must come down," Dobrindt told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. According to the newspaper, several thousand additional officials will be sent to support federal police at the borders, while monitoring of border regions, including from the air, will be stepped up as part of Dobrindt's planned measures. Germany's new government has vowed to take a tougher stance on migration in a bid to reduce support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has capitalised on public frustration over border security. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
German minister expects sharp fall in asylum seekers this year
FILE PHOTO: German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser speaks during a session of the lower house of parliament Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, January 31, 2025. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen/File Photo BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of asylum seekers in Germany is expected to hit its lowest level in more than a decade this year, outgoing interior minister Nancy Faeser told newspapers on Sunday. "If irregular migration continues to be reduced as sharply as we have managed to do in the last two years, then the number of asylum seekers in Germany could reach around 100,000 this year," Faeser told the newspapers of Funke media group. According to the federal migration office, the last time there were fewer than 100,000 asylum applications was in 2012. In 2024, there were just under 251,000 applications, compared with around 352,000 the previous year. Faeser's successor, Alexander Dobrindt of the conservative CSU, has promised to ramp up border controls and increase the number of people rejected at the border shortly after taking office next week. "Illegal migration numbers must come down," Dobrindt told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. According to the newspaper, several thousand additional officials will be sent to support federal police at the borders, while monitoring of border regions, including from the air, will be stepped up as part of Dobrindt's planned measures. Germany's new government has vowed to take a tougher stance on migration in a bid to reduce support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has capitalised on public frustration over border security. (Reporting by Holger Hansen, Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Giles Elgood)
The Guardian
02-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
AfD ‘extremist' label sets up political high-wire act for Merz
The decision by Germany's domestic spy agency to call the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party 'extremist' amounts to the starkest move yet by authorities to try to stop the advance of the populist political force. Friday's classification by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) will open up the possibility for the security services to monitor the country's largest opposition party, including by recruiting people to inform against it and enabling interception of its communications. AfD leaders denounced it as a 'blow against democracy', and nothing short of an attempt to disfranchise the more than 10 million people who voted for it in February's election. Its leaders vowed to take legal action against what they called 'defamatory' and 'politically motivated attacks'. According to the experts who compiled the BfV's 1,100-page report, the AfD is 'a racist and anti-Muslim organisation', which, through its strict, ethnically and ancestrally defined version of who is German and who is not, 'deprecates whole sections of the population in Germany and infringes their human dignity'. It has also 'incited irrational fears and hostility' in society, steering the blame towards individuals and groups, the report read. In itself, the step is not much of a surprise, although the timing is. The outgoing interior minister, Nancy Faeser, made the bombshell announcement on what is effectively her last day in office. Faeser said that 'there was no political influence on the assessment', despite the AfD's insistence to the contrary. But the move puts the incoming conservative-led government of Friedrich Merz under great pressure, as well as Faeser's Social Democrat colleagues, who will be the junior partners in the new coalition which gets to work next Tuesday. On the back of the decision, Merz will now be responsible – on top of the myriad other challenges in his in-tray – for deciding whether and how to ban the AfD, a decision which will involve the most precarious of political tightrope walks. Migration, Ukraine, Trump and an ailing economy are among the burgeoning issues that he will also have to tackle with urgency. The growing mood of dissatisfaction over these and other issues, exacerbated by the six months of political deadlock that followed the premature collapse of the previous government – which induced an added layer of nationwide ennui – has already caused the AfD to creep up in the polls. Having won second place in February's election – doubling its previous result and making it the strongest opposition party, second only to the conservative CDU/CSU – in recent days, the AfD has come top of the polls for the first time ever. The ruling by the BfV is unlikely to put people off supporting the AfD. Finding a way to reduce the AfD has been at top of the agenda among all of the political parties since it emerged as a protest force of professors and academics in 2013 on the back of anger over the Euro bailouts. The challenge has only grown in importance, as the populists – morphing from anti-Euro to anti-migrant over time – have grown their success at the ballot box. Merz would like to be seen as a pragmatic rationalist, aiming to reduce the AfD to what he refers to as the 'marginal phenomenon' it once was by addressing the nation's concerns, taking the wind out of the sails of the AfD's successful modus operandi of inciting fear and insecurity. Tackling 'irregular' immigration is therefore at the top of his domestic agenda, as he seeks to address the topic viewed as having added the most fuel to the AfD's fire. But many others believe it is too late for that, arguing that an extremist classification, followed by a ban, would be the only way to stop the flourishing party. Others say such a move would be grave danger of backfiring, arguing that the AfD would turn such a branding by the state into their own 'seal of approval', which will serve to enhance its already strong sense of victimhood or martyrdom. Merz's party, the CDU, has been torn over how to deal with the AfD. Merz tacitly cooperated with the party earlier this year – despite insisting he would not – to push migration policies through parliament. And on the local level, his party and the AfD have cooperated on issues such as a ruling that the German flag should be hoisted in schools. Jens Spahn, Merz's close ally, recently prompted scorn by suggesting the AfD should be treated as a 'normal opposition party', arguing that excluding the party from parliamentary procedures only boosted its popularity. Those who reject that approach say Friday's ruling will now give them more justification to block the party at every opportunity – but they argue that this will only work if a cross-party consensus prevails.
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
'Right-wing extremist' AfD is a threat to German democracy, minister says
Berlin: The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party pursues a proven campaign against the free democratic order, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Friday, commenting on the party's designation as 'right-wing extremist' by the domestic intelligence agency. "The AfD represents an ethnic concept that discriminates against entire population groups and treats citizens with a history of migration as second-class Germans," Faeser said in a statement. Follow live updates on Pahalgam attack news: Pakistan to allow stranded nationals cross Attari-Wagah border "Their ethnic attitude is reflected in racist statements, especially against immigrants and Muslims," she added.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German minister wants EU to cut red tape to enable more deportations
Acting German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Tuesday called on the European Union to cut red tape to facilitate more deportations, as migration policy within the bloc looks set to take a more restrictive course. Faeser, who was meeting with counterparts from German-speaking countries in the Austrian town of Krems, said EU rules regulating deportations were "too bureaucratic." The ministers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg agreed to advocate a simpler procedure as part of a planned new EU repatriation regulation. Switzerland and Liechtenstein, a landlocked German-speaking principality in the Alps, aren't members of the European Union, but participate in the visa-free Schengen area. Currently, repatriations depend too heavily on coordination among EU member states as well as too many conditions, Faeser said. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm responsible for proposing new legislation, tabled a proposal for a reform of the corresponding directive in March. Faeser, a Social Democrat, is set to vacate her post to conservative politician Alexander Dobrindt, when a new administration is sworn in next week, pending approval of a coalition deal by the Social Democrats. Dobrindt on Monday said he plans to significantly increase pushbacks at the German borders while in office. The outgoing centre-left government reintroduced temporary checks on all of Germany's land borders in a bid to curb irregular migration, but incoming conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to also send back those looking to claim asylum.
