Month after month, the pressure is on the federal government to limit the entry of asylum seekers – one way or another. The city government saw itself at the limit of their capacity, and the AfD sparked community outrage. But even in the European Union, prominent figures are now giving the impression that unwanted immigrants can be ostracized, even by abolishing existing asylum laws.
Federal Home Affairs Minister Nancy Faeser is now trying to escape that grip by taking the next step in migration policy. The Social Democrats want the Eastern European states of Georgia and Moldova declared safe as home countries. The draft law intended to expedite deportations was passed at a cabinet meeting in Meseberg.
Only 0.15 percent of Moldovan asylum applications are accepted
“We carry out our humanitarian responsibility towards people fleeing persecution, war and terror,” the interior minister explained on Wednesday. Migrants from the Caucasus Republics of Georgia and Moldova, which share a border with Ukraine, usually do not need such protection at all: “In both countries Usually, people are not threatened with political persecution.” More than a tenth of asylum applications rejected in Germany come from one of these countries. In the first half of this year, 6,612 applications were filed by Georgians. and 1,910 by nationals of Moldova, but only 0.15 percent answered “Here we can effectively reduce irregular migration very quickly.”
What Faeser announced on Wednesday has led to a bitter conflict with the Greens in 2019. Even so, Georgia was declared a safe home country, along with Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. At the time, resistance came from party leader Annalena Baerbock, as well as from states where the Greens are part of her government. The Faeser Act currently affects Georgia and Moldova. This is intended to facilitate deportation if there is “generally no fear of state persecution” in the country of origin.
In 1996, the Federal Constitutional Court outlined its application. If, after careful examination, the legislature comes to the conclusion that “no political persecution or punishment or inhuman or degrading treatment has occurred in any country” and if the legislature assumes that this will continue to occur “in any given period of time, reasonable”, then it can safely state the country of origin.
Asylum seekers from these countries will still be heard, said Faeser in the draft. Contrary to what is usually the case, their country of origin is assumed to have “security from persecution”. Hard to argue in court, the burden of proof is reversed. If the application is rejected as “obviously unfounded”, the time limit for leaving the country is reduced to one week, and lawsuits no longer have a suspension effect.
“Tracking security” is assumed, says Faeser
Neither the parliamentary group nor the leadership of the Green party would comment on Faeser’s plans when asked. Refugee organization Pro Asyl objected: Neither Georgia nor Moldova have areas that are not controlled by the central government. Here he could not guarantee the rule of law. In Georgia, the state also does not protect queers and homosexuals from “violent attacks.” In Moldova, Roma are “extremely marginalized and discriminated against”. The organization called for “abandoning the concept of deterrence of so-called safe origin”.
Amnesty International recently criticized the human rights situation in Georgia: Freedom of expression will come under “greater pressure” in 2022. Opposition members will be “victims of selective application of the law and politically motivated criminal prosecutions”. Faeser’s draft also mentions a “deficit” and a “democratic setback” in Georgia, where there were massive protests in March. However, the country “consistently continues its path of reform” in order to join the EU. The same goes for the EU candidate, Moldova. Roma ethnic groups are disadvantaged there, but do not experience “direct discrimination by the state”.
Interior Minister Faeser also dismissed objections that the Georgian and Moldovan governments only control parts of each other’s territory. According to the Constitutional Court, to determine a safe country of origin, it is not necessary that “there is absolute freedom from persecution and no isolated cases of abuse”. The Minister of the Interior of Bavaria, Joachim Herrmann (CSU), did not really agree with Faeser’s plan. Countries such as Armenia, India and the Maghreb countries must also be considered safe countries of origin, and the rate of admitting asylum applications is less than five percent.
