Germany seeks national ‘pact’ to stave off rising far right
Bitter immigration debate has pitted Scholz’s coalition and opposition parties against each other
German chancellor Olaf Scholz is seeking to seal a national “pact” among mainstream parties and settle an increasingly bitter public debate on immigration in a bid to stave off resurgent rightwing populism.
On the table are proposals to sharply reduce benefits for asylum seekers, radically speed up deportations, and even open processing centres outside the EU — a measure so far only attempted by Britain in Rwanda, with little success.
The prime ministers of Germany’s 16 state governments were hosted by Scholz on Monday in a meeting that was expected to last well into the evening.
Originally conceived by Scholz in September as a summit to agree a path forward for the country’s moribund economy, the “pact for Germany” has become consumed by disagreements over migration.
Plans to cut government red-tape, agree ambitious new infrastructure plans and secure funding for the government’s popular flat-price national rail ticket are still due to be discussed. But without a consensus on migration it is unclear what the summit will be able to agree.
The Monday meeting “will have a significant impact on Germany’s political future”, said the prime minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff.
“We need a new realpolitik in migration policy,” said Bijan Djir-Sarai, general secretary of the ruling liberal Free Democrats. “This is about the credibility of the state as a whole.”
It is barely two weeks since Scholz’s coalition government, composed of the social democrats, greens and liberals, proposed fresh legislation to speed up deportations. But those measures have failed to appease demands by coalition party and opposition politicians concerned with a surge in immigration that exceeds the 2015-16 crisis that brought more than 1mn refugees, mainly from the Middle East.
German officials expect more than 300,000 people to apply for asylum in Germany this year. That figure does not include any of the 1.1mn Ukrainians who have moved to the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.
“What the government is currently preparing is in no way suitable to limit the influx into Germany,” said prime minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer.
“The expectations on the part of the federal government are so high that we must not disappoint people now.”
Kretschmer is also the federal vice-president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Germany’s main party of opposition.
Scholz has held discreet meetings with CDU leaders over the past few days, in an effort to try and find common ground.
Although he does not need the party’s support to legislate, it is his hope that by bringing the CDU together on the topic of migration with his government, he will have greater legitimacy to face down the political threat posed by Alternative for Germany (AfD), the hardline populist party that has surged in the polls since the summer.
More than one in five Germans say they would now vote for AfD at the federal level, making the party the second-most popular after the CDU.
In two regional elections in October, the AfD scored breakthrough victories in Bavaria and Hesse. In three further regional elections next year the party is expected to extend its support.
It is not only the CDU advocating for stricter measures to staunch the political momentum of AfD, however, but also voices from within Scholz’s coalition.
Christian Lindner, German’s finance minister, and Marco Buschmann, the justice minister — both of the liberal FDP — called for financial support for illegal migrants to be “cut to zero” in an article two weeks ago.
FDP figures have also advocated for processing asylum claims in non-EU countries — a plan critics say is unworkable, both because of legal challenges, and because no one has yet been able to find a host country willing to strike a deal with Germany.
“I am in favour of discussing the whole thing very objectively and pragmatically,” Lars Klingbeil, the head of the Social Democrats — Scholz’s own party — told German media on Monday. “If procedures can ultimately be carried out in other countries, that is a viable option,” he said.
Other measures under discussion include proposals to lengthen the period of time asylum seekers must spend in Germany before they are eligible for full social security benefits. Asylum applicants currently become eligible for full benefits after 18 months in the country.
Funding will be another sticking point. The federal government wants to cut the support it gives the 16 regional governments for asylum processing by €2.5bn annually. That is regarded by all 16 states as deeply problematic, and may ultimately prove to be an insurmountable stumbling block.