Merz has been criticized for his calls for tightening asylum policy. Baerbock criticizes proposals that “violate the Basic Law or European law.”
Berlin – Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has sharply criticised CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s push for tighter asylum policy. MirrorInterview, Baerbock warned: “Terrorism cannot be fought in panic mode.”
On Thursday (5 September), Merz demanded a concrete commitment from the traffic light coalition to reject migrants at the German border. Demands of the Union Baerbock said: “Proposals that sound harsh but are not feasible because they violate the Basic Law or European law may be suitable for populist headlines, but they do not make our country any safer.”
The Foreign Minister also called for “differentiation instead of generalizations”. She emphasised the “heated situation in which our democracy is being challenged from within and without”. The dividing line is not between those born here and those who have moved here, “but whether one stands with both feet firmly on the ground of our constitution or not”.
Merz calls for tightening of asylum policy after Solingen attack – Baerbock criticises proposals
Following the knife attack in Solingen, Merz had called for a “de facto freeze” on the admission of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria after a conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Merz had thus already backed away from his call for a general freeze on admissions. Many experts believe that imposing a freeze on admissions for individual nationalities would be incompatible with current asylum law. Baerbock commented on the move: “I cannot understand what proposals are supposed to achieve that are aimed at all Syrians and do not differentiate between an Islamist murderer and a family that has fled Syria from IS.”
At the same time, Baerbock again did not rule out deportations to Syria and Afghanistan in general. “Serious criminals forfeit their protection, regardless of where they come from.” Deportations to Syria are “anything but trivial,” especially since “Syria is not the same as Syria.” “If we strengthen the murderer Bashar al-Assad and thus also his allies Iran and Russia, then we would have been dealing with lemons in terms of security policy,” said the Foreign Minister, referring to the Syrian ruler.
Asylum dispute: Traffic light parties criticise Merz – there is also disagreement within the government
At the same time, she stressed that there are areas in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, for example, which “Assad does not control.” They have already successfully cooperated with the authorities there. “However, there are also fighting there, not least Turkish military strikes,” said Baerbock. “The balance of power and thus the security situation in Syria are highly complex. Anyone who makes blanket statements is revealing above all their ignorance of foreign policy.”
On the Ultimatum that the CDU leader of the traffic light government Representatives of the governing parties reacted with criticism when the government had asked the SPD to postpone the deadline for the coming Tuesday. SPD parliamentary secretary Katja Mast explained in ZDF: “I don’t think that we need a new election campaign noise and a new ultimatum from Friedrich Merz every week, but people want solutions.” Green Party leader Omid Nouripour called Merz’s actions “unserious”. However, the traffic light politicians are not only criticizing Merz, they are also divided among themselves. (dpa/pav)
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