Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has strongly warned the Union against supporting the AfD’s hardening of Germany’s migration policy.
“Europe only works together and orderly migration only works in a European way” the Green politician told the Funke Media Group’s newspapers (Wednesday editions). “That Friedrich Merz is pushing our European neighbors at a time when Europe should be standing together, is severely damaging to Germany.”
Baerbock appealed to the Union’s sense of reason, the party of Adenauer and Kohl, to stand by their word and support European solutions through democratic compromise, rather than aligning with the extreme right of the AfD, whose declared goal is the destruction of the EU. “Those who present themselves as great Europeans in Sunday speeches cannot in parliament destroy the heart of Europe, our common internal market” she said.
The foreign minister referred to the reform of the European asylum system, which would curb illegal migration while preserving a Europe where the freedom of movement for citizens remains unimpeded. The EU’s asylum reform, which the Bundestag must approve, would establish common European rules, such as faster returns and the curbing of secondary migration, as national law.
“We are creating the possibility for registration and border procedures directly at the EU’s external border, in Germany at airports and faster returns to other EU states” Baerbock said. The Union can show its seriousness about curbing illegal migration and Europe by supporting the EU’s asylum reform.