Germany’s centre-right opposition on Monday took a step towards cementing a harder line on migration policy, unveiling a new political programme calling for a complete overhaul of asylum rules, POLITICO reports.
Mario Voigt, the head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the German state of Thuringia and one of the party leaders responsible for composing the policy paper, said in Berlin on Monday:
We want to regain control of migration. We are a cosmopolitan and hospitable country. But hospitality doesn’t mean removing the front door. Instead, hospitality means deciding for ourselves who and how many come into our homes.
In a 71-page document entitled “Live in Freedom,” party leaders proposed measures to limit the number of asylum seekers entering Germany and Europe. In particular, the document called for asylum seekers entering Europe to be relocated to “safe third countries” to have their asylum claims processed. The paper said:
Everyone who applies for asylum in Europe should be transferred to a safe third country and undergo a procedure there. Once such a system is established, a “coalition of the willing” within the EU would “accept an annual contingent of people in need of protection from abroad and distribute them among the coalition members.
The CDU concept has much in common with the UK Conservative government’s “Rwanda plan,” a bill under which asylum seekers entering Britain would be sent to the East African country for processing and possible resettlement there. The British plan is mired in legal wrangling.
Still, the document is another indication of how the party is trying to distance itself from the more generous asylum policies of its former leader Angela Merkel, especially at a time when the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is gaining a record 22 per cent of the vote in the country, second only to the main conservative opposition bloc, which includes the CDU.
Under the leadership of Friedrich Merz, the CDU has shifted to the right on migration and social issues in an attempt to win back voters who defected to the AfD. This is a clear departure from Merkel’s centrist approach.
Today’s draft political programme also calls for the creation of a German Leitkultur, or “leading culture” – a loose concept designed to define Germany’s core values and beliefs. As defined in the programme document, this culture includes respect for human rights and the “rule of law” in Germany, as well as “an awareness of the homeland and belonging and recognition of Israel’s right to exist“.
CDU leaders argue that only those who embrace this leading culture should become German citizens.
The programme document details the principles that should form the basis for specific policies in the future. The last time such a document was prepared was in 2007, when Merkel was chancellor. Party members are likely to amend and vote on the draft at the party congress in May.
