Friedrich Merz puts pressure on the federal government in asylum policy. The CDU leader called for the number of safe countries of origin to be significantly increased.

Berlin – CDU leader Friedrich Merz wants to stem the influx of refugees and is pushing for other countries to be declared safe countries of origin: “Moldova, Georgia, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria or India should be recognized as safe countries of origin. so we can immediately return people there,” Merz told the newspaper Funke Media Group. The traffic light government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to include at least two countries on the list of safe countries of origin: Georgia and Moldova. The cabinet approved a related draft law on Wednesday. However, approval from the Bundestag and Bundesrat is still pending.

Germany’s fundamental right to asylum also applies without restriction to applicants from a safe country of origin, but is more difficult to prove in individual cases. Instead, it is easier to show what the leader of the party and parliamentary group, Friedrich Merz, wanted to achieve. The number of asylum applications increased by almost 18 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year; However, the countries mentioned by Merz are still relatively small in comparison – “in the per thousand range,” he said. Hence the move.

Merz wants to expand safe states – FDP rejects demands for now

Safe countries of origin are countries where it is generally assumed that there is no persecution or inhumane or degrading treatment and therefore the foreigner in question does not face the risk of serious harm in his or her country of origin; that is why the rate of rejection of asylum applications from these countries is still high. The “safe” classification currently applies to the European Union member states Ghana, Senegal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. CDU leader Merz offered a sharp response to the Greens, who he said were blocking further safe-state designation: “This is a huge burden. “Municipal governments can no longer do this, and the federal government must finally take this seriously,” he said.

In early August, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) submitted a cabinet plan to tighten deportation rules so that rejected asylum seekers could be deported more quickly. However, the federal government rejected the list of safe countries of origin presented by Merz – according to the FDP’s Parliamentary Managing Director, Stephan Thomae. “The classification of Georgia and Moldova as safe countries of origin is an important step in limiting irregular migration,” he also told the newspaper Funke Media Group. According to him, this is a priority.

According to that Media services integration There are currently around 56,000 people living irregularly in Germany. Unreported estimates put the number at one million people. Together with the irregular asylum seekers who are officially registered, there is bound to be some commotion Media services Nearly 300,000 people left the Federal Republic – most of them with toleration permits. This means that their departure or repatriation is still pending for legal reasons.