Swiss asylum policy – SVP calls for realignment of asylum policy – News

  • In a new position paper, the SVP calls for a reorientation of asylum policy.
  • Accordingly, asylum procedures should also take place abroad, as other countries are planning to do.
  • Other parties have other solutions and are skeptical.

Around nine months before the federal elections and in view of the increased number of asylum applications, the SVP wants to turn asylum policy upside down.

Legend:

National Councilor Gregor Rutz (ZH), National Councilor and Vice President of SVP Switzerland Celine Amaudruz (GE), Councilor of States and President of SVP Switzerland Marco Chiesa (TI), National Councilor Martina Bircher (AG), and National Councilor Andreas Glarner (ZH) take their places at the SVP media conference on Swiss asylum policy in Bern.

KEYSTONE/Anthony Anex

According to the paper, the Federal Council should “immediately examine scenarios such as how asylum procedures can be outsourced abroad and how help and protection centers can be created on site”. Other countries also pursued such projects. The SVP demands that cooperation with Great Britain, Austria and Denmark be examined.

Other countries want to outsource asylum procedures


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Great Britain had agreed a regulation with the Rwandan leadership in the spring of 2022, which envisages sending illegal migrants to the East African country and having them apply for asylum there. A return to Great Britain is not planned. According to a recent decision by a London court, this is in line with the Refugee Convention and is legal. Since the European Court of Human Rights intervened, there have not yet been any deportation flights from Great Britain to Rwanda.

According to SVP National Councilor Gregor Rutz (ZH), demand in Austria the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) to carry out asylum procedures at the external Schengen border or outside of Europe.

Denmark in turn shelved plans for an asylum center in Rwanda and is seeking EU support for it.

Federal Council: Asylum procedures abroad not possible

The Federal Council considers asylum procedures abroad to be unfeasible. This will not change even after the controversial British plans become known, like this one in the response last July to an interpellation from the SVP faction. The number of unfounded asylum applications, however, has clearly decreased thanks to measures.

Rutz counters this with the argument of “refusal to talk”: “A rethinking is taking place all over Europe, Switzerland should explore such possibilities.”

In order to implement “Dublin”, the SVP brings into play transit zones on Swiss soil along the borders. Anyone who gets there is actually not yet in Switzerland, says National Councilor Andreas Glarner (AG). The Swiss authorities then decided whether the person would be allowed to enter the country or would be sent back to their country of origin.

No asylum for “asylum freeloaders”

The SVP is demanding that the new Minister of Justice, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, consistently implement the laws and constitutional mandates. Switzerland must again control immigration itself. Criminal foreigners must be consistently deported, and so-called “asylum parasites” should not be granted asylum.

SP and FDP are skeptical


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SP co-president Mattea Meyer is skeptical about the SVP’s proposals. She told SRF: “The Federal Council also considers this to be unfeasible.” The SVP is about overturning the right to asylum. The SP stands for the opposite. “I want a Switzerland that can also offer security and protection to people who need security and protection,” says Meyer.

It is also clear to the FDP: Carrying out asylum procedures abroad would mean shifting responsibility away. However: Switzerland must fight illegal migration, says National Councilor Andri Silberschmidt: “People who can neither claim asylum nor a reason for protection must leave Switzerland again.”

The federal government expects around 24,500 asylum applications in 2023, but considers up to 40,000 applications possible. There are also refugees from Ukraine. To date, around 75,000 people have applied for protection status S.

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