With his correct demand to reject illegal immigrants, Friedrich Merz could blow up the traffic light coalition. But the Union will also have to make changes in migration policy. A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis.
77 percent of Germans want a fundamental change in asylum policy. After Bad Oeynhausen, Mannheim, Solingen and Munich, no one should be surprised that the mood has changed even among many people who are fundamentally open to migration. The Greens’ call for tougher measures to combat terrorism and crime is hypocritical. Anyone who allows more and more people from the West, hostile cultures, to enter the country unchecked should not be surprised if the rule of law is eventually overwhelmed.
Now the SPD, Greens and FDP, with angry Brandenburg voters breathing down their necks, want to discuss over the weekend whether they can still reach a common denominator on limiting illegal migration that goes beyond their shared outrage at Friedrich Merz’s “ultimatum”. He wants to turn back migrants at the border because they come from safe neighboring countries and to know from the traffic light coalition by Tuesday whether they will go along with it. For him, pushing back the AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht is more important than the foreseeable trouble with the EU Commission. One thing is clear: if Germany no longer takes in everyone, our neighbors will also tighten controls out of self-interest. Then the chain reaction feared by Brussels will begin, Europe’s asylum turnaround will come as a precipitous birth.
CDU leader Merz calls for drastic asylum turnaround – and he is right
Merz is right. The asylum turnaround cannot be achieved with deportations alone, as long as the number of new illegal immigrants arriving each month is equal to the number deported each year. But the Union must also overcome its fears. Part of the blame for the collapse in the migration climate and the rise of demagogues lies in the mistake that our generous asylum and social policy invited many migrants, only to then use all the finesse of German regulation to keep them away from the job market and to smuggle them into the social systems. For example: despite a shortage of doctors, 1,400 Ukrainian doctors are waiting for their diplomas to be recognized.
Getting those who are already here and of good will into work more quickly is a task that the CDU and CSU cannot shirk. In demographically tipping Germany, with the exception of Thuringia, every helping hand is needed, whether in care or construction. If immigration is stopped at the borders, the Union no longer has to fear that every easing of work permit requirements will immediately attract new fortune hunters.
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