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Nathanael Liminski calls the CDU’s third-country solution a “serious approach to a solution”. He rejects harsh criticism from the church – and holds the traffic light coalition accountable.
Düsseldorf – North Rhine-Westphalia’s European Affairs Minister Nathanael Liminski (CDU) has defended the so-called third-country solution in the CDU’s basic program as the only “serious solution approach.” The model provides that everyone who applies for asylum in Europe is transferred to a so-called safe third country and undergoes an asylum procedure there.
Third country solution in the CDU’s basic programme: criticism from the church
Church representatives had criticized this as unchristian. The demand for a third-country regulation was in remarkable contradiction to the orientation towards Christian values, as Berlin Bishop Stäblein from the Protestant Church and Hamburg Archbishop Heße from the Catholic Church had stated in a guest article.
“I reply that the current situation at the EU’s external borders, especially in the Mediterranean, is neither legally, politically nor morally justifiable,” said Minister Liminski, who is also head of the NRW State Chancellery, in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIALast year, 3,100 people drowned in the Mediterranean on their way to Europe. “I will not and will not accept this,” said the CDU politician.
NRW Minister Liminski: The solution “cannot be to say that everyone should come”
Anyone who sees it that way must provide an answer as to how things can be improved. “That is why, as a Catholic Christian, I expect more from my church with its mission and its know-how than just lamenting the situation.” Ethically responsible solutions are needed. “But they cannot consist of saying that everyone should come.”
“Smugglers decide who makes the leap to Europe”
Liminski said he was opposed to pushbacks, the sometimes violent pushing back of refugees after they have crossed the border. “The status quo is that people smugglers and traffickers decide who makes it to Europe and who doesn’t. That is a disgrace for Europe.” Asylum seekers should be made aware that “if they go through the orderly process, they have a realistic chance of gaining a permanent, reliable status, starting a family, going to work, and building a life.”
The third-country solution is a “serious solution approach”. He does not see such an approach in the federal government or other parties. “They are limiting themselves to secretly hoping that the winter will be particularly hard, that the number of refugees will go down and that the Germans will not lose their nerve. But that is not a political concept for me,” said Liminski.
Concern about “disinformation war” and tendencies on TikTok: Sylt video as an example
The CDU politician, who is also the media minister in North Rhine-Westphalia, also stressed in the interview that he was worried about a real disinformation war. This is being waged primarily on TikTok. The platform is sometimes home to “almost diabolical humor” that blurs the boundaries between humor, hate and incitement, as well as the digital and analogue worlds. An example of this can be seen in the Sylt video, where a group of young people shouted racist slogans and filmed themselves doing so.
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