Talks about the “Germany Pact”?
CDU general secretary accuses Scholz of inaction
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In view of the increasing number of asylum seekers, calls have been coming from the Union for weeks for a stricter course in migration policy. CDU General Secretary Linnemann once again calls on SPD Chancellor Scholz to sit down at the table with the Union.
In the migration debate, the Union is trying to pressure Chancellor Olaf Scholz to cooperate with it and to tighten the conditions, especially for rejected asylum seekers. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann accused the Social Democrat of not taking his offer of a joint German pact seriously. “To this day we are waiting for the invitation, it’s all hot air,” he said in the ARD “Report from Berlin”.
CDU General Secretary Linnemann is putting pressure on Chancellor Scholz in the migration debate.
(Photo: picture alliance / Metodi Popow)
Linnemann said it had been “days ago” since Scholz had “made a big stand in the German Bundestag” and said he wanted to talk to the opposition there. He emphasized the willingness of the CDU and CSU to work together. The Union is offering Scholz “to join forces”.
The SPD is maintaining the offer of talks from the beginning of September, but does not want to be carried away, as its parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich made clear in the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. Scholz's offer also referred to the modernization of the country in general, but the Union is calling for a concentration on migration policy.
One must come to the conclusion that this was a PR stunt by the Chancellor for the state elections on Sunday in Hesse and Bavaria, said Linnemann and assured: “We are ready for a great consensus.” Or in the words of the chairman of the CSU member of the Bundestag, Alexander Dobrindt, in the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “We expect the Chancellor to keep his word and make an attempt to agree a German pact with the CDU and CSU to stop irregular migration .” At the weekend, Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz also called for an early joint search for a solution and named October 9th as the latest date, the day after the state elections in Bavaria and Hesse.
SPD ready to talk
SPD parliamentary group leader Mützenich said: “On the one hand, the Chancellor will continue to talk to the states, including the prime ministers of the CDU and CSU, and of course he will also speak to the chairman of the largest opposition faction.” However, it will not only be about the issue of migration, but above all about the core elements mentioned by Scholz: modernization of the infrastructure, acceleration of planning and better cooperation between municipalities, states and the federal government.
Similar to Scholz, Mützenich explained: “There is no one tool that solves all problems against unauthorized immigration.” He added: “And certainly not a fictitious limit number, like the one (CSU boss) Markus Söder threw into the room without having any idea how to make it concrete.” Migration is “a task of the century.”
The Union's proposals
“We have concrete proposals. The Chancellor just has to want it. He's ducking out of the way,” said Linnemann in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”. According to a report in the “Bild” newspaper, Linnemann and CDU/CSU parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei have defined several points with which migration should be curbed.
Stationary border controls: They should be applied for at the EU and – analogous to the procedure at the border with Austria – also introduced at those with Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has not ruled this out in the future, but is relying on flexible controls on the Polish and Czech borders, including beyond the border line. The police union (GdP) considers this to be “very sensible”, as the chairman of the GdP Federal Police District, Andreas Roßkopf, told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” – although this has been practiced for many years.
Payment cards: Asylum seekers should be able to buy food, among other things. “The prepaid cards are intended to prevent them from being able to transfer money to their home countries,” the newspaper quoted from the Linnemann/Frei paper. The coalition partner FDP also represents a similar demand. However, a general switch from cash to benefits in kind is considered difficult. Community association general manager Gerd Landsberg told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”: “The switch to benefits in kind for all asylum seekers is difficult to implement, creates bureaucracy and does not do justice to people with a perspective of staying. According to the Federal Constitutional Court's requirements, pocket money must be paid anyway.”
Asylum seekers with no prospects of staying: You should go through an accelerated asylum procedure in transit zones at the national border. Rejected applicants should be accommodated in return centers. “This is intended to prevent those required to leave the country from going into hiding,” quotes “Bild”. In the centers, those required to leave the country should no longer receive any money, but only benefits in kind “in the amount of the absolute minimum requirements”.
International: In addition, the federal government should end all voluntary admission programs and declare the North African Maghreb states and India to be safe countries of origin so that applications from asylum seekers from there could be more easily rejected.
Upper limits: Söder's demand is not raised by the CDU. On the contrary: “In my opinion, upper limits are not an answer to the question of how to comply with them,” said North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul from the CDU to the editorial network Germany.
