Last updated: 26.11.2023, 00:06
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Robert Habeck speaks on the phone at the federal party conference of Alliance 90/The Greens. © Kay Nietfeld/dpa
On the third day of the national party conference, emotions are running high among the Greens. It is about asylum policy. A dispute arises between the "No one is illegal" camp and those who want more "order".
Karlsruhe - A number of younger delegates have voiced massive criticism of the asylum policy of the traffic light coalition at the federal party conference of the Greens. In the end, however, the party leadership prevailed on Sunday night - after active support from Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck.
"It's dishonest to talk about limitation when the world is on fire," Vasili Franco, a member of Berlin's House of Representatives, said in Karlsruhe in the evening. And the chairwoman of the Green Youth, Katharina Stolla, warned: "Those who run after right-wingers will stumble." The co-chair of the youth organisation added: "There is no reason for further tightening of asylum laws." The critics of the government's policies were loudly cheered.
"Vote of no confidence in disguise"
Habeck countered. Action should not be guided by the desire to "be on the right side" on this issue. He warned: "A party congress of a ruling party is not a game." The proposals of the Green Youth are in reality "a vote of no confidence in disguise" and an indirect call to leave the traffic light government of SPD, Greens and FDP.
Habeck warned that the Greens were putting themselves in shackles here. In the motion of the Green Youth, it was stated that neither ministers nor the parliamentary groups in the federal or state governments should agree to further tightening of asylum laws - specifically, for example, "more restrictive regulations for returns, the reduction of social benefits for refugees, the lowering of protection standards, an expansion of safe countries of origin, fast-track procedures at external borders, as well as the accommodation of refugees in external border camps and the rejection of refugees to supposedly safe places third countries'.
"I can't keep to that," Baerbock said of the requirements in the Green Youth's motion. She asked, "Is that really the mandate of this Congress?" At the end of the debate, the motion of the youth organization did not find a majority in the hall.
Discussion on draft law next Thursday
In order to prevent a scandal, however, the party executive had agreed to make some changes to the text of its resolution. The title was "Humanity and Order: for a Tackling, Pragmatic and Human Rights-Based Asylum and Migration Policy". For example, the sentence was deleted: "In addition, where capacities are exhausted, the numbers must also fall through measures based on the rule of law and humane dignity."
Three and a half weeks ago, the Green politicians Ricarda Lang and Winfried Kretschmann wrote in a joint guest article for the "Tagesspiegel" on the subject of migration to Germany: "When capacities reach their limits - as they do now - the numbers must also fall." The party chairwoman and the Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister emphasized that, with all due humanity, the following applies: "Control and repatriation are part of the reality of an immigration country like Germany." Next Thursday, the Bundestag is to discuss a draft law of the federal government in the first reading, which has the goal that "legal regulations that prevent or at least make deportation measures more difficult should be adapted".
"Let's not adopt a compromise with conservative forces here at the party conference," demanded Sophia Pott from Lübeck. Earlier, the party's co-chairman, Omid Nouripour, had pointed out to delegates that the Greens, as a governing party, would be judged on whether they provided solutions or not. Dpa