Olaf Scholz’s government has softened its plan to tighten the reception policy for asylum seekers decided after the deadly knife attacks that shocked Germany, according to a document obtained on Saturday, October 12 by Agence France-Presse (AFP). . One of the key measures of this text, presented at the end of August, provides for the elimination of aid for asylum seekers who entered another European Union (EU) country before arriving in Germany. If this provision is maintained, the parties in the coalition of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz (SPD), formed with the Greens and the Liberals, have added exceptions.
A complete expulsion will therefore only be possible if the departure of asylum seekers to the EU country where they first arrived “it is legal and really possible”according to this document. It is also excluded in cases where children are involved.
“We do not want to cause homelessness or impoverishment of asylum seekers whose responsibility falls on another Member State” of the EU, explains SPD deputy Dirk Wiese in a letter to his colleagues in the parliamentary group, of which AFP also obtained a copy. According to the “Dublin Regulation” agreed by EU countries, the first EU country an illegal foreigner enters is responsible for his or her asylum application. The modified text must be debated before Friday in Parliament.
Progress of the far-right AfD party
The Government presented its project in August after the triple murder with a knife attributed to a Syrian suspected of having links to the Islamic State organization during a party in the city of Solingen. In June, another knife attack, attributed to an Afghan during an anti-Islam demonstration in Mannheim, left one person dead: a police officer who had intervened.
These tragedies fueled the progress of the far-right, anti-migrant AfD party, which won a regional election for the first time in September and achieved historically high scores in two others.
HE “Security package” The government also plans to facilitate the expulsion of refugees who have used weapons, a limitation on the carrying of edged weapons and an expansion of powers for the authorities. The measures were considered insufficient by the conservative opposition. One of his deputies, Thorsten Frei, criticized the modified text and told the Rheinische Post newspaper on Saturday that the refugees, for whom Germany is not responsible, “will be able to continue hiding behind the so-called exceptions”.
