Chancellor’s power word against the Greens
Scholz ends German blockade on EU asylum package
September 27, 2023, 4:35 p.m
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Germany is clearing the way for the planned EU asylum reform. With a word of power, Chancellor Scholz overruled the Greens, who had massively criticized parts of the project. It is now said that nothing will stop Berlin in Brussels.
Germany will apparently agree to the planned European asylum policy and the crisis regulation. According to ntv information, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that Berlin will “not stop anything” in Brussels. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also announced this at the cabinet meeting. The Green politician had previously sharply criticized the crisis regulation.
The EU countries have been discussing reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) for some time. There has been intense debate recently over the crisis regulation, part of the regulation. The federal government has so far not wanted to support a proposal from the Spanish EU Council Presidency in July. The EU states were therefore unable to position themselves for negotiations with the European Parliament.
Berlin justified the resistance in Brussels in particular by saying that the regulation would give EU states the opportunity to lower the protection standards for these people to an unacceptable extent in the event of a particularly large influx of migrants. The German Greens were considered crucial for this position.
Angered by the deadlock, the European Parliament announced last week that it would block other parts of the negotiations on the planned asylum reform until further notice. The delays were particularly explosive because of the approaching European elections in June 2024. Projects that have not been negotiated with the governments of the member states by then could then be called into question again and be delayed for a long time. In the case of the planned reform of the asylum system, this would have been a particularly big setback. The project has been in the works for years.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner also indicated German approval during the government questioning in the Bundestag. “I am now confident that the federal government will agree to the asylum package at the European level,” said the FDP politician. This involves a fundamental paradigm shift, including the protection of Europe’s external border, the simplification of asylum procedures and “the relocation of the submission of an asylum application outside the European Union”. The federal government is living up to its responsibility.