Germany tightens refugee policy as Finland joins Sweden in deportations. Germany will close its border to Algerians, Tunisians and
Moroccans and will also prevent migrants from bringing their families to join
them for two years. Angela Merkel announces plans to change
Germany’s refugee policy Agence
France-Presse, Thursday 28 January 2016 20.03 EST
Germany has moved to toughen its
asylum policies as Finland
and Sweden announced plans to deport tens of thousands of people in a bid to
contain the migrant crisis.
Sigmar Gabriel, the vice chancellor,
announced that Germany
would place Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia on a list of “safe countries of
origin” – meaning that migrants from those countries would have little chance
of winning asylum.
'From hero to villain': Denmark comes to terms with outcry over refugee
law. Country’s international reputation
has taken a hit over new policy on confiscating valuables, while at home there
is concern about the tone of political debate.
Some migrants would also be blocked
from bringing their families to join them in Germany for two years, Gabriel
said. The tougher rules come after
Germany, the European Union’s powerhouse economy, took in some 1.1 million
migrants in 2015 – many of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has come under fierce pressure in recent
months to reverse her open-arms policy to
those fleeing war and persecution, including opposition from within her own
conservative camp.
Finland meanwhile joined Sweden on Thursday in
announcing plans to deport tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers. The two
Nordic countries are both struggling to cope with an influx of refugees and
migrants fleeing misery in the Middle East and elsewhere – receiving amongst
the highest numbers of arrivals per capita in the EU.
The Finnish government expects to
deport around two thirds of the 32,000 asylum seekers that arrived in 2015,
Päivi Nerg, administrative director of the interior ministry, told AFP. “In
principle we speak of about two-thirds, meaning approximately 65% of the 32,000
will get a negative decision (on their asylum applications),” she told AFP.
In neighboring Sweden, interior
minister Anders Ygeman said on Wednesday that the government was planning over
several years to deport up to 80,000 people whose asylum applications are set
to be rejected.
“We are talking about 60,000 people
but the number could climb to 80,000,” he told Swedish media, adding that, as
in Finland, the operation would require the use of specially chartered
aircraft. He estimated that Sweden would reject around half of the 163,000
asylum requests received in 2015.
Swedish migration minister Morgan
Johansson said authorities faced a difficult task in deporting such large
numbers, but insisted failed asylum seekers had to return home.
“Otherwise we would basically have
free immigration and we can’t manage that,” he told news agency TT. The
clampdown came as at least 31 more people died trying to reach the European
Union.
Greek rescuers found 25 bodies,
including those of 10 children, off the Aegean island of Samos, in the latest
tragedy to strike migrants risking the dangerous
Mediterranean crossing hoping to
start new lives in Europe. The Italian navy meanwhile said it had
recovered six bodies from a sinking dinghy off Libya – and in Bulgaria, the
frozen bodies of two men, believed to be migrants, were found near the border
with Serbia. Nearly 4,000 people died trying to
reach Europe by sea last year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The new German rules on family
reunification will mean migrants with so-called “subsidiary protection”, a
status just below that of refugee, would be blocked from bringing their
families to join them in Germany for two years.
The status is granted to some
rejected asylum seekers who still cannot be expelled because they risk torture
or the death penalty in their own country.
The cutoff on migrants from Algeria,
Morocco and Tunisia follows a chorus of demands in recent weeks to step up
expulsions after a rash of sex assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve blamed by
police on North Africans.
As Europe struggles to respond to
its biggest migration crisis since the Second World War, a top Dutch politician
said the Netherlands was working with some EU members on a plan to send
migrants back to Turkish soil.
The proposal would see asylum
granted to up to 250,000 others already hosted by Turkey, Diederik Samsom said. But rights group Amnesty
International blasted the plan, saying it was “fundamentally flawed since it
would hinge on illegally returning asylum seekers and refugees”.
The UN’s new refugee chief Filippo
Grandi said on Thursday that rich countries have the means to take in the
world’s refugees, despite the complex political situation in Europe. And he defended the contribution
that refugees can play in building Europe’s economy, insisting they should not
be seen as a burden.
“Refugees have skills. They deserve
our efforts,” Grandi told a press conference with OECD chief Angel Gurria in
Paris. “Einstein was a refugee. We should
not forget that.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/29/germany-tightens-borders-as-finland-joins-sweden-in-deporting-refugees
Comments
We will
take all the Einsteins you can send us.
We haven’t noticed any Einsteins in any of the groups you’ve sent so
far, so for now you can stop sending the welfare recipients.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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