SPD agrees on line for future asylum policy

It is perhaps the most heated topic of the SPD federal party conference: what the party thinks about immigration. Young Social Democrats and party leftists are outraged by the EU asylum reform and some of the Chancellor's statements. A compromise paper sets minimum standards for future asylum procedures.

On the second day of its federal party conference, the SPD agreed on a common line on immigration policy in Germany and the EU asylum reform after a lengthy debate. "We hereby make it clear that we want immigration and we need immigration," reads the so-called initiative motion. However, the party also acknowledges that local authorities in Germany have reached their "limits" in terms of accommodation and integration. In a sometimes passionate debate on this motion, one of the issues discussed was whether this limit had actually been reached, whether the SPD was taking part in a right-wing populist discourse and whether the federal government should agree to the EU asylum reform at all.

"Migration and integration policy can only succeed if there is acceptance for it," said Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Meier. "Currently, this acceptance no longer exists in some cases." Lower Saxony's Minister President Stephan Weil also promoted the position paper: "In the last eight years, we have taken in 2.5 million people in Germany. That's a pretty big number," said Weil. "We can see quite clearly that the willingness to accept refugees in the country is different to eight years ago." People rightly expect the state to exercise control over who comes and who is not allowed to stay.

Jusos fail with amendments

The SPD's motion draws red lines for the EU asylum reform, which has not yet been adopted: "The individual human right to asylum and international refugee law are the irrefutable basis for any reform of the Common European Asylum System. This is non-negotiable for us." Unaccompanied minors and families with children must be excluded from the planned external border procedures. "The intended acceleration of asylum procedures must by no means lead to restrictions on legal protection," it continues.

The left-wing party and Jusos proposed various changes. These include the complete abolition of the EU border protection agency Frontex and the rejection of accelerated asylum procedures for people with little prospect of staying. "Put an end to violence and to the misery camps at Europe's external borders," demanded Juso delegate Sarah Mohamed. The EU asylum reform would lead to "more suffering, more violence, more camps at our borders".

The adopted paper calls for the observance and monitoring of human rights and accommodation in the external border camps that is worthy of human rights. Several speakers pointed out that the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) was the only prospect of bringing order back to the European asylum system. "The alternative to CEAS is much worse, namely no agreement at European level, and we cannot accept that after the Dublin system failed in 2015 and 2016," said Sebastian Hartmann, Member of the Bundestag.

At present, countries of first admission such as Greece and Italy often wave migrants through to Germany instead of carrying out asylum procedures themselves in accordance with the Dublin rules. With the GEAS reform, the German government also wants to achieve a mandatory redistribution of migrants within the EU.

Question of the right tone

Not only was the initiative motion itself controversial in the debate, but also the migration debate of recent weeks and months. "People who you want to deport on a grand scale, or who look like people you want to deport on a grand scale, are part of this society," Sarah Mohamed criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz's choice of words in an interview with "Der Spiegel".

Serpil Midyatli, federal deputy leader and SPD state leader in Schleswig-Holstein, said: "If people only ever talk about refugees, then I will be treated the same as everyone else outside." Demands from parts of the party leadership for a reduction in immigration figures would therefore contribute to all people with a visible history of migration being perceived as a supposed problem. Local politician Maik Luhmann argued that the SPD must "recognize that in some places the limits of the burden have been reached".

The paper was also an attempt by SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert to bring together the sometimes very opposing positions in the party. He called for an objective debate on the topic of migration and warned against populist propaganda. "We must ensure that these debates do not get out of hand," said Kühnert. It is important to sort out migration issues while maintaining humanity.