View of the Reichstag building with a waving German flag in Berlin. Photo: Carla Benkö/dpa (Photo by … [+] Carla Benkö/picture alliance via Getty Images)
dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images
State leaders in Germany are calling for tighter controls on irregular migration in the country, arguing that the number of people seeking asylum in the country is still “too high.” It comes as anti-immigration parties have seen electoral gains in recent months off the back of concerns over immigration, and the fragile governing coalition seeks to clamp down on its borders.
In September 2024, the German government implemented stricter controls across its land borders and announced plans to speed up deportations. The move was a reaction both to concerns of losing votes to the far-right Alternative for Germany party which has seen gains in recent state elections, as well as concerns over recent isolated incidents of violence linked to immigrants.
The move caused concern among Germany’s neighbors and the European Union, for whom free movement within the Schengen area is a core pillar. It also provoked alarm among a leading expert group on migration, who called the efforts to reduce peoples’ ability to claim asylum an “extremely dangerous strategy.”
Germany has already reportedly blocked 1,000 people from entry into the country under the new system. Now, after a meeting of the heads of Germany’s 16 state governments, there are calls to extend control measures, increase deportations and limit peoples’ access to social benefits. These calls reflect a broader shift on irregular migration and asylum in Western Europe. A bill is expected to enter French parliament next year seeking to similarly limit migrants’ access to the country’s healthcare system and speed up deportations.
Despite irregular arrivals to Europe declining in 2024, various governments and political parties across Europe have leveraged anxieties over migration for political gain. In Italy, the government of right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has begun a scheme to prevent people arriving in Italy and instead be sent to Albania. The scheme has already been beset by legal challenge but the government intends to push forward with it, building on pre-existing arrangements with countries in North Africa to prevent people leaving from there. Meanwhile in Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands far-right parties have seen considerable success, with opposition to immigration forming key planks of their election campaigns.
The coalition government in Germany led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats, which faces serious challenge from both the Alternative for Germany and formerly long-reigning Christian Democrats in next year’s elections, has worked to show that it is clamping down on irregular migration. At the same time, knowing that the country faces worsening labor shortages in the face of changing demographics, Scholz’s cabinet has also pushed for more skilled labor migration and have made good on long-standing pledges to reduce bureaucratic hurdles to hiring foreign workers.
The Christian Democrats political group, which previously under Angela Merkel was known as the party that allowed over a million refugees to settle in Germany, has increased its call for Italy-style schemes to keep asylum seekers out of the territory. Senior figures in the party have previously argued that Germany take up the work the U.K. had previously done to establish a similar scheme with Rwanda, which was eventually scrapped.
Earlier in October 2024, the lower house of the German parliament approved measures to toughen restrictions on asylum seekers, withdraw certain protections and increase police powers. Germany’s state leaders are quite powerful in their own right and have considerable autonomy, in a similar system to US federalism. Their calls for tighter controls, above what the government has already done, will carry considerable influence as the country approaches elections in September 2025. A follow-up meeting is expected in December, where the state leaders intend to discuss the matter once again.
Source link : https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2024/10/30/germany-state-leaders-push-for-tighter-migration-controls/
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Publish date : 2024-10-30 14:16:00
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