A swipe at the AfD
Ramelow sees Thuringia “at the limit” when it comes to accepting refugees
September 21, 2023, 7:13 a.m
The debate about the alleged overload of migrants in Germany is currently heating up again. Thuringia’s Prime Minister Ramelow also says that too many people are coming to his state. He calls for more solidarity and further measures.
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow is concerned about the influx of many migrants into his state. “The state and municipalities are at their limit,” said the left-wing politician to the “Rheinische Post”. The state’s initial reception center in Suhl has long since taken in more people than appears acceptable. “Regular operations there are based on 800 people, we have over 1,000. And we continue to have a strong influx.”
However, Ramelow rejected the Union’s demands for stationary controls at the German borders in the east. The European Schengen area, where no permanent checks on persons take place, must continue to apply. “Deploying police in the Thuringian Forest just for show purposes doesn’t help.”
Ramelow demanded that the solidarity distribution system in Europe should work and that smuggling crime should be combated with a “European-African solidarity”. The background is that every year tens of thousands of migrants from North Africa undertake the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean towards Europe.
Issue a quick work permit
The politician further demanded: “And everyone who is here should have a work permit after three months so that everyone can and must look after themselves. Then the myth about the threat from refugees will stop.” According to figures from the Free State, 4,055 asylum seekers arrived in Thuringia in 2021, and 6,199 in 2022. In the first half of 2023, more than 3,900 new asylum applications were submitted. According to the Königstein key, around 2.7 percent of all refugees arriving in the Federal Republic are allocated to the federal state.
Ramelow sharply criticized AfD politician Björn Höcke, who leads the right-wing party in Thuringia. He wants the EU to die. “But our companies are at home in the European markets.” A large part of Thuringia’s economic power is based on these relationships. “We mustn’t allow ourselves to be ruined by Mr. Höcke painting images of the EU as enemies. This regular talk is causing us great emotional and ultimately massive economic damage. That’s why it’s right to deal with the AfD in terms of content, not in blanket images of the enemy.” You can’t get anywhere with slogans like “It’s all Nazis in the East,” said Ramelow. “We must not allow the thread of conversation with the citizens to be broken. It is not the AfD that has solutions for their problems.”