controversy over immigration
“Shouldn’t throw the basics of asylum law overboard”
By Marko Schlichting
08/15/2023, 06:50 am
CDU politician Thorsten Frei caused a stir with his proposal to abolish the individual right to asylum. In “Hart aber fair” Green politician Cansin Öktürk vents her anger at the idea. Sociologist Ruud Koopmans proposes a compromise.
Many municipalities in Germany have problems accommodating refugees. In many places, the integration does not work either. A few weeks ago, the first parliamentary manager of the Union faction in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei, made a proposal that has since caused heated debates. He wants to replace the individual right to asylum with a quota solution. It would then no longer be possible to apply for asylum on European soil, and asylum seekers would no longer be able to receive social benefits and job opportunities. His goal: The European Union should take in a contingent of 300,000 or 400,000 people in need of protection from abroad every year and then distribute them fairly among the European countries. But Frei’s proposal could already fail on this point, because countries like Hungary are not willing to take in asylum seekers.
Nevertheless, Frei says on Monday evening in the ARD program “Hart aber fair”: “The situation as we currently have it is completely unsatisfactory, both for those who come to Europe and for the host societies in Europe.” The current law means that only the strongest, the youngest and the healthiest asylum seekers come to Europe, as well as those who can pay the smugglers to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. Weaker ones stayed behind.
Another important point for Frei: “We cannot take in unlimited people in Europe. This year we will have up to 350,000 people applying for asylum in Germany . In addition, around 25,000 teaching positions cannot be filled in 2024. In rural areas, we will also have problems with medical care.” Frei demands order, control and limitation of migration “so that society and the municipalities are able to meet the challenges and enable integration in order to give people protection.”
“Realistic and unworkable”
The fact is: in the first half of 2023, the number of refugees to Europe rose by 78 percent compared to the same period last year. The professor of sociology at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Ruud Koopmans, assumes that Europe will experience the year with the third most asylum seekers since 1995. In addition, there are still people from Ukraine. Koopmans expects a total of one million refugees in Europe – this year alone.
Nevertheless, social worker Cansin Öktürk, who is also a member of the Greens, considers Thorsten Frei’s proposal to be “absolutely unrealistic and unworkable”. The right to asylum is a human right and anchored in international law, she says – and is right about that. “I don’t understand why people are trying to shake this international law. We have structural problems in society. The solution, however, is not that we take in fewer people, but rather that we tackle these problems and not blame the people who have fled seek.”
Öktürk, obviously angry about Frei’s suggestion, constantly interrupts the politician, which he also criticizes during the program. She might have achieved more if she had taken a step back. Nevertheless, it is she who fills the discussion with life, and that is urgently needed, because ARD has postponed the program to midnight because of a football broadcast.
“Every human life counts”
Lars Castellucci is more responsible for calm and composure in the discussion. The SPD politician is spokesman for the migration and integration working group of the SPD parliamentary group. He, too, criticizes Frei: “Until two months ago, the Union was still talking about order and humanity. Now there is no longer any talk of humanity,” he says. Every human life counts, you have to help people if you can. His suggestion:
You have to help the municipalities with the accommodation and integration of refugees, for example by the federal government helping with the financial support of daycare centers or schools. Sounds like a clever plan, but the traffic light coalition has so far failed to implement it. And Castellucci’s party is leading the way.
In the end, it is sociologist Koopmans who proposes a compromise. He states: Thorsten Frei’s suggestion would not mean that fewer people would come to Europe. Nevertheless, Koopmans likes the idea. But he says: “The difficult thing about the proposal is that you have to be able to use other means to push back irregular migration, despite the quotas being taken up.” This requires agreements with third countries. You have to renegotiate with countries like Turkey. “And that also applies to Tunisia, so that they don’t send the refugees back into the desert.”
Refugees should have the opportunity to apply for protection in these third countries. That must be the aim of talks with non-European third countries such as Tunisia or Morocco, but also with countries such as Rwanda or Ghana. Unlike Frei, Koopmans is of the opinion: “We shouldn’t throw the basics of asylum law overboard. That would have to be guaranteed in these third countries. We could also drastically reduce deaths in the Mediterranean.”