Söder: Consultation on migration policy in first meeting
A good five weeks after the state elections and just under a week after the new ministers were sworn in, the new Bavarian cabinet will hold its first meeting this Tuesday. The focus will be on the topic of migration. Specifically, the introduction of a payment card for asylum seekers and compulsory language tests for schoolchildren will be discussed, as announced by Minister President Markus Söder after a CSU executive meeting on Monday. Bavaria wants to do its "homework" independently in this area.
The new government would be ready to work just a few weeks after the election, Söder emphasized. "And we will do everything we can to implement the coalition agreement at a rapid pace." At the end of October, the CSU and Free Voters sealed their new alliance and re-elected Söder as Minister President; last week, all new ministers and state secretaries were named and sworn in to the state parliament.
For some, Tuesday is therefore the first cabinet meeting ever: for Minister for Europe Eric Beißwenger (CSU), Digital Minister Fabian Mehring (Free Voters), State Secretary for Finance Martin Schöffel (CSU) and State Secretary for Economic Affairs Tobias Gotthardt (Free Voters). Anna Stolz (Free Voters) has been promoted to Minister of Culture, while Judith Gerlach (CSU) is now Minister of Health instead of Digital Affairs.
According to Söder, Bavaria wants to introduce the payment card for asylum seekers "in cooperation with the federal states". "We now have several states that want to do this together with us. We will assess this over the next few days and discuss what the right approach is." According to Söder, "traditional regulations" are to be put on the back burner in order to speed things up. Otherwise, procurement regulations, for example, would mean that the desired timetables could never be met. "So you have to declare it a special matter so that it goes faster."
The new Bavarian cabinet, including newly appointed ministers like Fabian Mehring and Martin Schöffel, will discuss the introduction of a payment card for asylum seekers and compulsory language tests in their first meeting. In line with Söder's statement, Bavaria aims to introduce this payment card in cooperation with other federal states.
Source: www.dpa.com
