Traffic light check: Migration expert Knaus sees “last chance” for Europe - SPD names immovable condition

Created: 12/28/2021, 3:09 PM

From: Florian Naumann

How can German migration policy be improved?

Gerald Knaus (right) and Lars Castellucci exchange arguments.

© Imago / M.

Litzka

How does Europe get the issue of migration under control - without dying in the Mediterranean, legal violations and EU long-term zoff?

Expert Gerald Knaus outlines a solution for IPPEN.MEDIA, which the SPD answers.

Munich / Berlin - Germany has a new government coalition - and it has to solve some urgent problems together with the EU in 2022.

In addition to the corona pandemic and the climate crisis, this will inevitably also be the issue of migration: Every year thousands of people drown while fleeing in the Mediterranean, and EU countries are mutually responsible for accepting refugees.

And autocrats like the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko are already discovering the topic as a leverage.

Traffic light in front of major migration problems: Expert Knaus names the necessary steps - and even a specific number

But do the SPD, Greens * and FDP have the right plans ready? Shortly before the end of the year,

brings

experts and traffic light politicians. The well-known migration researcher Gerald Knaus - also known as the “father of the EU-Turkey deal” - outlines the requirements for the traffic light. Knaus sees in his guest contribution nothing more and nothing less than a “last chance” for Europe to establish “humane borders”. He names migration agreements as the most important lever *: Mediterranean states should accept refugees - Germany and partners should also settle clearly defined contingents of refugees. Knaus even mentions a specific number. European sea rescue centers are also needed to quickly curb the deaths in the Mediterranean.

Lars Castellucci, migration spokesman for the SPD * parliamentary group, reacts to Knaus' proposals with a clear restriction in terms of content - and a promise. On the one hand, he warns of “camps in Africa”: human rights must be observed, the Social Democrat warns, problems cannot simply be outsourced. At the same time, the SPD wants to “accept migration as a fact”, with downsides and advantages. Another demand of the SPD: Applicable law must be observed, in the EU and also by the border protection unit Frontex. And Germany? That must do what is possible under the traffic lights and be the engine for a European solution.

It seems possible, but not decided: An alliance of several countries called for by Knaus to accept refugees could be an option for the SPD.

How far the traffic lights, Germany and the EU move, time will tell - as well as whether the very real plans improve the situation.

The assessment of the arguments is initially up to you, the readers:

Migration as a task for the traffic light: What Gerald Knaus proposes - and where the SPD sees problems

Traffic light check: Migration expert Gerald Knaus sees the "last chance for humane borders and asylum in Europe"

The Geneva Refugee Convention, adopted 70 years ago, is now systematically disregarded at the EU's external borders. In 2021, the border protection agency Frontex withdrew from Hungary because it disregarded a judgment of the European Court of Justice on its asylum system. An anti-torture report by the Council of Europe confirmed systematic violence on the Croatian-Bosnian border in 2021. Poland legalized pushbacks on its border with Belarus. In 2021, over 110,000 people from Africa and Asia entered the EU irregularly across the Mediterranean. 1900 people were killed on this deadliest border in the world.

The coalition agreement promises that all of that will change.

“Illegal rejections and suffering at the external borders” are to be ended, sea rescue strengthened, legal channels for refugees expanded, and the departure of criminals “implemented more consistently”.

The government wants to “reduce irregular migration and enable regular migration”, in compliance with the Basic Law and the Refugee Convention.

EU law should be enforced at the external borders.

Can it work?

Yes, but only if the migration agreements promised in the coalition agreement are concluded with third countries.

In addition to Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia play a prominent role in the Mediterranean.

Germany should commit to accepting refugees every year and set up a global resettlement coalition with Sweden, France and Canada.

(...) For Germany this would be around 40,000 refugees a year. 

Gerald Knaus, sociologist and migration researcher

Morocco is the most important country of origin for irregular migration to Spain, Tunisia for Italy, both of which are important transit countries.

The EU should make them the same offer that it made to Ukraine in 2008: in return for cooperation, offer a visa liberalization process for its citizens. Tunisia should commit to accepting those who would be welcomed or rescued in the central Mediterranean after a deadline. There the protection status should be determined in compliance with the Refugee Convention. Sea rescue centers in the EU should coordinate sea rescue again. This would mean that the number of deaths in the Mediterranean would fall rapidly. Negotiating this would be the great challenge for the special representative (s) provided by the government.

Germany should also undertake to take in refugees every year and set up a global resettlement coalition with Sweden, France and Canada that promises to resettle refugees of at least 0.05 percent of the population.

For Germany this would be around 40,000 refugees per year.

This is how the coalition agreement could be implemented: uphold the law, reduce the number of deaths, reduce irregular migration and increase the number of legally admitted refugees.

The EU would have humane borders for the first time.

Traffic light: Migration plans in the expert check - SPD expert Lars Castellucci answers

Traffic light check on the subject of migration: SPD wants to “accept migration as a fact” - and protect rights

The coalition agreement promises a new beginning in migration policy: “With an active and regulating policy”, migration should be designed “proactively and realistically”. For that you have to accept migration as a fact. Migration is normal. It also brings conflict. We associate them with images of people behind barbed wire or crammed together on boats. But migration also includes very beautiful things. Schoolchildren spend a year abroad far away from home, you go abroad for training or study, people fall in love far away and stay there, others work and contribute to the prosperity of their new home or to better food.

Realistically, that means: seeing the good in order to promote it, but also the downsides. Both require rules and a consistent application of these rules. So far, both of these have only been very inadequate. The problem is where migration is forced to happen and how it happens.

Realistic also means facing the facts: of the 82 million refugees worldwide, only a third are actually looking for international protection.

A number that has changed little in recent years and, given the 8 billion people worldwide, is extremely low.

Yes, climate change and population development will continue to influence migration in the future, but these questions need to be addressed much more closely anyway.

Shaping migration in such a way that everyone involved benefits from it and at the same time letting the people on the move have their dignity and rights is, according to the facts, an affordable task.

Social Democrats remember the ancestors who were persecuted and perished in camps.

That is why social democrats do not fight for camps, but for rights and their observance.

Lars Castellucci, spokesman for migration and integration of the SPD parliamentary group

Time and again it is suggested to set up “camps in Africa”.

Social Democrats remember the ancestors who were persecuted and perished in camps.

That is why social democrats do not fight for camps, but for rights and their observance.

Nothing speaks against it, if states outside the EU are ready to support us in the tasks mentioned, as long as human rights are respected.

This can also be the result of negotiations with countries of origin and transit countries.

These must finally be held at eye level and the interests of the negotiating partners honestly taken into account.

However, our problems cannot simply be outsourced.

Rather, a group of European countries must go ahead and show that and how it works.

Fifteen were last ready to accept people from Afghanistan.

We can work in a division of labor, the joint tasks are financed from the European budget.

Existing law must be observed by everyone.

Sanctions are needed where the law is broken.

Frontex must ensure that border protection is effective and based on human rights.

This also requires independent monitoring.

They say we shouldn't wait for a European solution.

That's correct.

We have to do what we can and be the engine for a European solution.

This article is part one of a three-part

series on some of the great challenges for the new traffic light coalition in 2022 - it is about the exchange between experts and the political practitioners of the new government.

Part two will be the climate impact researcher Dr.

Bringing Michael Pahle and the green climate spokeswoman Ingrid Nestle into dialogue.

In part three, the conflict between the epidemiologist Hajo Zeeb and the FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann will be about requirements for a forward-looking corona policy.

*

IPPEN.MEDIA series at the start of the first traffic light calendar year: The participants in the migration dialogue

Gerald Knaus

is one of the most prominent researchers on the subject of migration in German-speaking countries.

He is co-founder of the think tank European Stability Initiative, but also worked for international organizations himself.

Knaus is regarded as the "father" or "architect" of the EU-Turkey deal, which is still important for Central Europe today.

Lars Castellucci

has been a member of the Bundestag for the SPD since 2013.

He is parliamentary group spokesman for migration and integration issues and deputy spokesman for domestic affairs.

He has also been a member of the Human Rights Committee since 2021.

Before that, he did his doctorate and taught at TU Darmstadt.