The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Refugees: Kretschmer urges decisive action

2021-10-20T15:46:39.962Z


Almost every day refugees cross the German-Polish border to Saxony. Demands for temporary border controls are increasing. Now the Federal Police also want to increase staff.


Almost every day refugees cross the German-Polish border to Saxony.

Demands for temporary border controls are increasing.

Now the Federal Police also want to increase staff.

Dresden - The debate about the rapidly increasing number of refugees on the German-Polish border continues.

Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) intends to resolutely oppose unauthorized entry via Belarus and Poland.

“We have to tackle the problem at the root,” he said on Wednesday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”.

The European Union must "stand up to" the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

You shouldn't allow yourself to be blackmailed by “such a despot”.

In addition, “effective sanctions against all those involved in this smuggling trade at European level” would have to be imposed.

According to Kretschmer, this includes airlines, companies, states and citizens who participated.

He emphasized several times that the dimension of the refugee movements was still significantly smaller than in 2015.

Thousands of people from Iraq, Syria and other crisis areas have come to Germany illegally via Belarus and Poland since the summer.

The European Union had imposed punitive measures against Belarus.

In return, Lukashenko announced that he would no longer stop migrants en route to the EU.

In fact, Lukashenko is now operating as the "head of a state smuggling ring," said Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) this week.

Shortly before the end of his term in office, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) saw an urgent need for action in refugee policy on Wednesday.

Eight hundred federal police forces have already been moved to the German-Polish border, said Seehofer.

“I am also ready to do more,” always in coordination with the governments in Brandenburg and Poland.

"The fact is that the problem of state-organized smuggling through Belarus cannot be solved on the Saxon-Polish border," said the Saxon State Secretary for the Interior, Thomas Rechentin.

The problem can only be solved at EU and federal level.

To do this, it is necessary to secure the European external borders and to act jointly on Belarus.

“The Saxon police will continue to support the federal police in all measures - even if border controls, which we still do not rule out, should become necessary at a later point in time.

We are currently considering the proposed measures to be appropriate for the situation. "

also read

Council complains about a lack of empathy for refugees

The Saxon Refugee Council has complained about a lack of empathy for those seeking protection who are currently increasingly coming to Germany across the border from Belarus and Poland.

This mainly affects people from Iraq and Syria.

"The life-threatening everyday life of two destroyed countries - like the disaster in Afghanistan - seems to have been dealt with, the need for support for people plagued by conflict fades into the background," said Dave Schmidtke from the Refugee Council in Dresden on Friday.

Council complains about a lack of empathy for refugees

Stübgen hopes for a controlled entry despite the bottlenecks

Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) believes that the significantly increased number of migrants entering Brandenburg via Belarus has so far been under control.

"In the month of September we have an approximate six-fold increase in the number of migrants who come to Brandenburg across the land border compared to August," said Stübgen on Thursday in the state parliament in Potsdam.

Stübgen hopes for a controlled entry despite the bottlenecks

Poland: State of emergency at the border with Belarus extended

Warsaw accuses the Belarusian ruler Lukashenko of bringing refugees from crisis regions to the EU's external border in an organized manner.

There is no end in sight to the conflict.

Poland: State of emergency at the border with Belarus extended

Seehofer again urged European cooperation on migration issues.

However, the EU states have not been able to agree on a common asylum reform for years, mainly because they are divided on the distribution of asylum seekers within Europe.

As long as one cannot come to an understanding here, a common line is needed in dealing with countries of origin and transit countries.

The conservative union of values ​​in the Saxon CDU warned on Wednesday in view of the increasing number of refugees to comply with laws.

"For years, Germany has not applied its own laws when it comes to preventing illegal entry," said Vice-Country Manager Sven Eppinger.

He accused politicians of acting irresponsibly and, like before, the CDU parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament called for border controls.

dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-10-20

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-06T08:15:31.003Z
News/Politics 2024-03-01T05:44:18.653Z
News/Politics 2024-02-24T09:14:00.471Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.