Germany has been arguing over the admission of refugees from Lesbos for months.
Now a confidante of Chancellor Merkel is putting pressure - explicitly on Horst Seehofer.
Berlin - Germany has to take in more refugees from the Greek island of Lesbos - at least that's what ex-Union faction leader Volker Kauder and SPD politician Hilde Mattheis demand.
The two members of the Bundestag accuse the EU of major omissions: “The conditions in the Greek refugee facilities are incompatible with the Christian image of man.
It must be like a slap in the face when the courts find that people cannot be sent back there because the situation is unbearable, ”Kauder is
quoted as saying
in the
Schwäbische Zeitung
.
+
"We accept a lost generation," says SPD politician Hilde Mattheis.
© Sebastian Gollnow
In the interview Mattheis reports on a visit to Lesbos in September.
The tents there are damp and leaky, the floor is full of mud and the sanitary facilities are completely inadequate.
"The people in Kara Tepe on Lesbos wait years for the hearing in order to be able to apply for asylum," said the SPD politician.
“For years children have not seen any school and no perspective.
We accept a lost generation. "
Migration: Merkel's confidante Kauder puts pressure - and demands "support" for Seehofer
After the fire in the Moria camp on Lesbos in September 2020, the federal government promised to accept 1,553 recognized refugees.
In addition, the coalition of CDU / CSU and SPD decided in March to take over 243 sick children with close family members from Greece as part of a European relief effort.
150 unaccompanied minors are already here.
Germany had also agreed to accept them after the fire.
Kauder suspects that Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) would be willing "to do more if his own parliamentary group supports him".
That is why the CDU and CSU now have to take a step forward “for the humanly acceptable way of dealing with migrants in Europe”.
The recording is correct, but ultimately not the solution to the problem.
As a powerful Union parliamentary group leader, Kauder had organized majorities for the federal government of Angela Merkel (CDU) for years.
He is still considered a confidante of the Chancellor.
At the beginning of 2019 Kauder reported to the
Augsburger Allgemeine
that he and Merkel were "forever friends".
(dpa)
