German centre-right opposition lawmakers on Friday called on the country’s coalition government to sharply limit the number of asylum-seekers allowed in the country.
Members of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) introduced the proposal in parliament.
The proposal in parliament would noticeably reduce irregular migration in order to relieve the burden on the federal, state and local governments.
“We offer to solve this issue together, because otherwise it can develop into a major social conflict,’’ CSU politician Alexander Dobrindt said in parliament on Friday.
Dobrindt said asylum numbers in Germany were rising, municipalities are overburdened and social acceptance of migrants is waning.
Dobrindt said the CDU/CSU proposal called for expanding the list of so-called safe countries of origin, which allowed for accelerated asylum procedures and potentially swifter deportations.
This was to include Georgia, Moldova, India, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
He also said that Germany should work to speed up deportations of migrants whose asylum claims have been denied as well as re-establish controls along the borders with Poland.
Also the Czech Republic and Switzerland were to prevent migrants from traveling to Germany from southern Europe.
Dobrindt framed the proposal as a response to a call from Germany’s Social Democratic (SPD) Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlier this month for the CDU/CSU to join a Germany Pact to modernise the economy and streamline government bureaucracy.
Dobrindt also accused Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, an SPD member, of blocking needed migration reforms at the EU level.
Faeser rejected the criticism and pointed to government policies, including cooperation with Czech and Polish border guards, as evidence that “our measures are working, we control and regulate migration.’’
Faeser said there were no easy solutions and accused the CDU/CSU of trying to exploit debate over migration for political gain.
She said 200,000 persons annual cap on migration proposed by the CDU/CSU was mere populism that only strengthens the far-right.
“Don’t continue on the misguided path of political campaigning on the backs of people who are threatened by war and terror,’’ she said.
