“Learn from Denmark”
SPD parliamentary group vice-chairman calls for new course on migration
14.06.2024, 03:04
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Unlike SPD parliamentary group leader Mützenich, his deputy attaches importance to a critical discussion of the European election defeat. Dirk Wiese sees the Social Democrats in Denmark as a model for a tougher asylum policy for the Chancellor’s party.
SPD deputy parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese wants to learn from the Danish Social Democrats after his party’s election debacle in the European elections. “We should take a very close look at the course of the Nordic Social Democrats,” Wiese told the “Tagesspiegel”. Not everything there can be implemented or is desirable in Germany. “But the Social Democrats there have taken a course, particularly in migration policy, that has led to them being successful again in elections and, above all, to them keeping radical parties small,” said Wiese.
The spokesman for the conservative Seeheimer Circle in the SPD parliamentary group told the paper: “We in the SPD have to talk about it without blinkers and benefit from these experiences.” For him, that is a given. At the same time, he criticized statements made by the Juso chairman Philipp Türmer after the election. “We cannot, as the Juso chairman is now suggesting, keep quiet about problems in order to avoid following right-wing narratives,” warned Wiese. That is the completely wrong conclusion to draw from this election.
Wiese also criticized the way the election results have been dealt with so far. “We cannot now say, after the European elections, that the poor election result was only due to poor communication,” the deputy parliamentary group leader told the newspaper. Previously, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich had argued the same thing and promised Chancellor Olaf Scholz his undivided support without demanding a change of course.
“SPD takes concerns about migration seriously”
“We need to focus more on the working family, those who get up every morning and keep the country running.” Wiese stressed that the party takes people’s concerns about immigration very seriously. Most people are in favor of immigration, but want the rule of law to be enforced.
Wiese added: “They have the legitimate expectation that those who do not follow the rules or have no reason to seek asylum will have to leave the country.” The SPD must state this more clearly in the future. He also called for more migration agreements to further increase the number of deportations and an end to the general ban on deportations to Afghanistan. “Anyone who commits a capital crime must leave our country.” The Federal Ministry of the Interior is currently working on this. “Our security interests come first,” said the SPD politician.