Migration: Berlin court says expulsions are illegal
A Berlin court has ruled that it is against EU law for border police to refuse entry to asylum seekers found on German territory during border controls, and that Germany violated asylum law when it sent back three Somali nationals at its border with Poland. The ruling comes after Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt ordered stepped-up border controls and authorised expulsions in May. Commentators take different views of the judgement.
A bad move in domestic and foreign policy
The German approach hasn't worked anyway, the taz notes:
“The number of rejections per day across Germany can be counted on one or two hands. ... The expulsions are also a failure in terms of foreign policy. The neighbouring states rejected the German manoeuvre instead of nefariously joining in. In Poland this fuelled anti-German sentiment, which may even have been decisive in the close-run presidential election. And now Germany looks like a state that has ignored the law in true Trumpist style. This is no way to lead the EU or attract investors to Germany for whom the US has become too crazy.”
AfD benefits from legal wrangling
The ruling plays into the hands of the AfD, warns The Spectator:
“The AfD has positioned itself as the authentic voice of those frustrated with mainstream politics' failure to address migration concerns. Every strategically timed court ruling against the government's border policy, every coalition compromise that dilutes reform ambitions, provides ammunition for populist narratives about establishment incompetence and reinforces perceptions within the electorate that democratic governance has been captured by unaccountable advocacy networks. ... Europe's stability may well depend on whether democratic governments can maintain authority over policy implementation.”
The government must stay its course
The government must not be dissuaded from its plans, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung insists:
“It must continue to pursue the overarching objective - based on the intent and purpose of German and European asylum law – that refugees are not able to apply for asylum in Germany first. With the result that most of them come here and the vast majority stay. This challenge must continue to be tackled: at the European level through consultation and joint action, if possible by adapting the legal situation to the reality, but if necessary also through national steps to achieve the common goal.”