The Greens Party in Germany voted against key points in European asylum policy on April 10. Their opposition to the proposed reforms led the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to accuse them of driving frustrated voters towards extremist and populist parties. The reforms, which are set to be voted on before the end of April, aim to be implemented by the European Union before the next European elections. The reforms have the support of the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and Liberals, but the Green Party remains firmly opposed.
The new European asylum system comprises eight legal provisions and will be available in all official European languages after linguistic review. According to the newspaper “Tagesspiegel,” the Greens groups in the European Parliament still need to hold internal discussions on the matter. MP Erik Marquardt from the Greens stated that the parliamentary group will continue to discuss the voting behavior on these eight legal provisions in detail, though the fundamental stance of the Greens will remain unchanged.
One of the most important points that the Greens reject is the border procedures, which means the detention of asylum seekers before entering the European Union. Daniel Kasbari of the Christian Democratic Party commented on this by saying, “The majority of asylum seekers will not be returned by border procedures to their countries of origin. In the end, the procedures will take a long time and will be more complex.”
A colleague in the group, Rasmus Andersen, agreed with Erik Marquardt, expressing significant concerns about the proposed asylum policy reforms. He stated, “We fear that many of the proposals will come at the expense of a fair asylum policy.” Andersen criticized the approach of leaving countries on Europe’s external borders, such as Italy and Greece, to manage alone even after the reforms. He also highlighted the ongoing risk to refugees from smuggling gangs. “A responsible and humanitarian asylum policy looks different,” he added.
The European Parliament, member states, and the Commission have agreed to tighten asylum procedures for irregular migrants. The new reforms aim to ensure that migrants unlikely to stay can be deported. However, some experts believe that these reforms are unlikely to have a significant impact by the time of the European elections next June.