Monday, October 25, 2021
Criticism of EU refugee policy
Steinmeier meets Francis for a private audience
First Merkel travels to Rome, now Federal President Steinmeier follows. An audience with the Pope is on the agenda, and the EU’s refugee policy is also discussed. Steinmeier finds critical words on this.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized the EU’s refugee policy after his visit to the Vatican. He very much regrets that no common path in refugee policy has been found in Europe, said the 65-year-old after his private audience. “We can now see the consequences of this in the uncoordinated behavior within the European Union.”
The Pope asked how the current refugee movements from Belarus are affecting Germany, said Steinmeier. He and the Pope had expressed agreement that the behavior of the Belarusian leadership to bring people from the Middle East and send them to different borders was not to be approved.
Prior to this, Pope Francis had received him and his wife Elke Büdenbender for just under an hour for a private audience in the Apostolic Palace. Steinmeier then spoke to Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. Steinmeier still had to visit the Sovereign Order of Malta in Rome. There he wanted to talk, among other things, about how politics and humanitarian organizations could work together even better.
The 65-year-old Steinmeier had already met Francis in 2017 for his inaugural visit. It was his first personal meeting with the Argentine, as it was called at the time. About two weeks ago, Chancellor Angela Merkel was also a guest of Pope Francis. At that time, the two talked about the challenges of the climate crisis, among other things.