2024-08-29 07:36:26
Migration and security
Klingbeil: Check everything that helps security
Updated on 29.08.2024 – 08:38Reading time: 4 min.
After the Solingen attack, CDU leader Merz presented a list of demands and spoke with Chancellor Scholz. SPD leader Klingbeil said what he thought was possible. The Greens and FDP also have ideas.
The latest terrorist attack, presumably by an Islamist migrant, has alarmed politicians. In light of the three deaths in Solingen, the debate is turning to concrete measures to curb illegal migration. SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil told the “Rheinische Post” (Thursday): “I am prepared for everything that actually helps to ensure security in Germany to be examined. Blind actionism is not the right way; it has to be concrete.” FDP leader Christian Lindner called for cuts in benefits for Dublin refugees.
After Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) presented a list of demands and was received by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the government announced on Wednesday that it would present a first package of measures “very soon”. It is intended to help speed up the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers. Instead of the two-person team proposed by Merz, consisting of the Union parliamentary group and the Chancellery, further measures will now be defined by a larger working group: including state representatives from the Union and SPD as well as other federal ministries, which will probably also include the Greens and FDP.
What is currently being discussed, among other things:
– Deportations: Klingbeil said: “Making deportations to Afghanistan and Syria possible is one point that must be implemented now with great pressure.” Merz is also demanding this. So far, it has failed due to the ambiguous threat situation in the countries and the fact that there are no relationships with those in power there. According to information from “Bild”, there is also discussion about speeding up deportations. The threshold for a particularly serious interest in deportation should be lowered. For example, the use of weapons could be sufficient as a reason. This was also confirmed to the dpa.
– Benefit cuts if asylum seekers are already registered in another EU country: The FDP chairman, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, said on Wednesday evening in the ARD program Maischberger: “For those who have to leave the country as Dublin refugees, there should be zero euros from the German taxpayer.”
– Loss of protection status for certain trips to the home country: Lindner referred to those who “go on holiday in the country where they are actually threatened” – they should lose the right of residence in Germany. The CDU also wants this. However, in Lindner’s view, this should not apply to trips to funerals or other important reasons. The protection status must already be checked if a trip home is known. There are no statistics on this, but individual state governments have said that trips for holiday purposes are rarely known.
– Unlimited border controls: Merz is in favor of them. Chancellor Scholz also wants them “for as long as possible,” as he said on Tuesday. This concerns the existing checkpoints at the borders with Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland, which are only possible for a limited period of time but have been repeatedly extended. The Greens are in favor of mobile controls in the border area. So far, however, anyone who wants to apply for asylum is generally allowed into the country.
– Deportation arrest: The Union demands that rejected asylum seekers who are criminals or dangerous be detained indefinitely until they can be deported or leave voluntarily. Critics see legal obstacles.
– Stop on admission of Afghans and Syrians: This is similar – the Union demands a corresponding signal, critics consider this to be illegal.
– More powers for security authorities on the Internet: Klingbeil said: “The authorities must be given more opportunities to examine the radicalization structures of Islamist terrorists on the Internet.” The Green Party’s interior politicians Konstantin von Notz and Irene Mihalic also propose this in a position paper that was made available to the ARD capital studio and the dpa. The SPD interior politician Sebastian Hartmann sees the FDP as a “brake”, as he told the television station Welt, especially when it comes to accessing telecommunications traffic data, which is possible in accordance with European law: “We have an FDP here that has weakened security authorities due to a misunderstanding of the rule of law.”
– Better networking between police and intelligence services: Green Party deputy leader Notz and parliamentary secretary Mihalic are also in favour of this. The CDU/CSU and SPD are likely to welcome this.
– Tougher action against hate preachers: Klingbeil demanded: “We must cut off the power to hate preachers on Tiktok and other networks. The providers and internet platforms have the legal options and if they do not exploit them, the measures must be tightened up.”