2024-09-02 02:39:33
In the wake of the terrorist attack in Solingen, the participants in the discussion on “Markus Lanz” on Tuesday evening largely agreed: the German and European asylum system is dysfunctional.
“The necessary decisions are not being made” – this is how CDU politician Jens Spahn sharply criticized the government’s asylum policy. Regarding the proposed asylum deal by CDU leader Friedrich Merz and his meeting with Chancellor Scholz, Spahn explained that the CDU was ready to take responsibility. The problem must be tackled at its root, said Spahn, and attested: “The real core problem has been irregular migration for many years.”
“In schools, in daycare centers, in cities, we are already over the limit of what is possible.” Spahn received support in the program from an extremism researcher who spoke of a “life-threatening” situation in the country.
- Jens Spahn, politician (CDU)
- Ahmad Mansour, extremism researcher
- Daniel Thym, legal scholar
- Anne Hähnig, journalist
Spahn worked on Lanz’s reaction to the knife attack in Solingen by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). “When the Chancellor says he is angry, I find that almost cynical. He doesn’t have to be angry, he has problems to solve,” Spahn explained. When asked about the statement by SPD politician Saskia Esken that “not much can be learned” from the attack, Spahn said that this explains why the SPD is on its way to less than five percent in Saxony and Thuringia.
Journalist Anne Hähnig (Zeit Online) said of Esken’s statement that it was “at least honest”. She stressed that there was a large discrepancy between the existing regulations and the reality of German asylum policy. “We have rules in Germany, some of which are very strict. But they have little to do with reality.” Regarding deportations that were not carried out, such as that of the Solingen attacker, she said: “It is not an isolated case, it is reality in Germany.”
Legal scholar Daniel Thym agreed that parts of the asylum system were dysfunctional. The European Union had failed to revise the rules, which did not work in practice. “This led to frustration and politicians were looking for instruments to show the population that they had things under control.”
However, none of these instruments works on its own – a whole range of instruments are needed: “We have to equip the authorities so that they have the staff and resources to apply the law. We have to optimise the processes,” Thym said. We have to think about where we can “streamline the law so that it is easier to implement in practice”. After that, we can talk about fundamental changes to asylum law. The proposal by CDU politician Thorsten Frei to suspend individual asylum rights is difficult to implement: “We have to change the Basic Law. We have to fundamentally change European asylum legislation. We have to change international treaties. That takes years and can fail.”
Extremism researcher Ahmad Mansour was shocked on Lanz that just a few weeks ago the usefulness of border controls was being discussed, even though the security apparatus has been pointing out for years that IS and other terrorist groups are using the refugee routes to build up terrorist structures in Europe. The problem is “that we could not distinguish between people who are seeking protection and fleeing the war and people who are deliberately coming to Europe to carry out attacks. The fact that no action is being taken, that we have no mechanisms, shows how dysfunctional the whole thing is.” Mansour stressed that the current situation is “life-threatening.”
Mansour continued: “Who protects the Germans? Who protects the migrants who flee from Islamism and come to Europe?”
Spahn, however, stated: “We are overwhelmed as a society.” Five percent of all Syrians and one percent of all Afghans worldwide now live in Germany. If the CDU were to be chancellor, Spahn would recommend that his party close the borders.
At the end of the program, Mansour spoke about Islamism and warned that October 7, the day of the Hamas attack on Israel, had created a dangerous victor mentality among Islamists around the world. The developments in social media since that day were “a veritable tsunami.” The fact that the Palestinians and Hamas are setting up international structures should be a cause for concern.
“We have not reached so many people in Germany that it will be easy for the Islamists to win people over.” Many asylum seekers are distancing themselves from Germany. We must try to get these people to feel at home in democracy on an emotional level – and to win over social media. “Otherwise we will lose this battle – and it is a battle for the souls of these people.”