Refugees - Migration: Thuringian SPD leader turns Jusos against him
Thuringia's SPD leader Georg Maier has drawn criticism from the Jusos with his position on expanding the list of safe countries of origin. "The Jusos Thuringia are reacting with incomprehension to Maier's criticism of Thuringia's voting behavior," the Thuringian branch of the SPD's youth organization announced on Saturday.
On Friday, the Bundesrat approved the classification of Moldova and Georgia as safe countries of origin. The move is intended to limit the rising number of asylum seekers. To date, hardly any asylum applications from people from the two former Soviet republics have been recognized. The classification as safe countries of origin should now also enable faster procedures. Thuringia abstained from the vote in the state chamber. Minister President Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) had criticized the classification.
"I call on Georg Maier to speak out against the expansion of safe countries of origin, as the clear majority of his party did at the state party conference in Meiningen two weeks ago," explained Jusos state leader Melissa Butt in the statement.
This was preceded by public disagreements between Maier and representatives of his coalition partners from the Left and the Greens on X (formerly Twitter).
Thuringia's Green Party leader Astrid Rothe-Beinlich had written on X that the construct of so-called safe countries of origin would not improve with the extension to Moldova and Georgia. "Good that #Thuringia did not agree to this." Katharina König-Preuss, the Left Party's spokesperson on migration policy, shared the post. Maier, on the other hand, commented on it with the sentence: "Regrettably, Thuringia is once again taking a special path in the BR." BR stands for Bundesrat, i.e. the chamber of the federal states.
Maier defended his stance on the issue. The SPD members of parliament had agreed to it, he told the German Press Agency. "It's a bit questionable what this is all about." Other federal states in which the Greens were in government had agreed, including Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a state where the Left Party is in government. "We are now simply isolated," complained Maier.
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- Despite the Federal Council's approval of Moldova and Georgia as safe countries of origin, which aimed to reduce the rising number of asylum seekers, Thuringia opted to abstain from the vote in the state chamber.
- The SPD's youth organization, Jusos Thuringia, expressed disbelief at the criticism of Thuringia's voting behavior by Georg Maier, the state's SPD leader.
- Melissa Butt, the Jusos state leader, urged Georg Maier to publicly oppose the expansion of safe countries of origin, as the majority of his party had done at the state party conference in Meiningen.
- The inclusion of Moldova and Georgia in the list of safe countries of origin was criticized by Green Party leader Astrid Rothe-Beinlich, who argued that it would not improve the construct of so-called safe countries of origin.
- The Left Party's spokesperson on migration policy, Katharina König-Preuss, supported Rothe-Beinlich's stance, echoing her sentiment that it was unfortunate that Thuringia agreed to this extension.
- In response, Georg Maier defended his position, stating that the SPD members of parliament had agreed to this, and questioned why the situation was being focused on in Thuringia when other federal states with similar coalition agreements had also agreed to the expansion of safe countries of origin.
Source: www.stern.de
