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Pro Asylum has harshly criticized the statements of the CDU politician Merz on the admission of refugees. Germany and the EU would have to remove people from the fields of Greece and Bosnia. The SPD accused Merz of coldness.
At the external borders of the EU, the situation of immigrants is getting worse due to the conditions in the fields and the beginning of winter. In Germany, an open dispute has broken out between coalition partners CDU and SPD over whether the federal government and the European Union can do about it and what they can do.
CDU presidential candidate Friedrich Merz spoke out on Saturday against accepting refugees from camps in Bosnia and Greece. “Above all, the entire European Union has an obligation to help refugees in the Balkans or on the Greek islands there,” Merz told the Funke media group newspapers. The humanitarian catastrophe cannot be solved by bringing immigrants to Germany. “This road is no longer open.”
The trade union parliamentary group Vice Thorsten Frei expressed similarly. There should be no incentives to migrate to Europe, said the CDU politician of the dpa news agency. Rather than being accepted, Germany is ready to use all means to assist local disaster relief if Bosnia so wishes.
“Life and fundamental rights in grave danger”
The SPD reacted outraged to the statements. SPD MP Achim Post accused Merz and Frei of coldness. In cases such as Greece or Bihac in Bosnia, aid, also through the will to host needy refugees, is “a requirement of humanity.” Post called on Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) to allow cities and municipalities in Germany to accept immigrants. At the same time, the EU must significantly increase pressure on those responsible in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The EU’s special envoy, Johann Sattler, met yesterday with Bosnian Security Minister Selmo Cikotic. Sattler said the situation for homeless refugees in the northwest of the country was “completely unacceptable.” The lives and basic rights of hundreds of people are “in grave danger.” Ambassadors from Germany, Austria and Italy also participated in the meeting.
The federal and state governments must advise on admission.
The human rights organization Pro Asyl accused the EU of “total failure” and harshly criticized the statements by Merz and Frei. Managing Director Günter Burkhardt declared: “The inaction of the European Union and the EU states” was “outrageous and absolutely inappropriate”. Germany, Austria and Italy only reported on emergency measures at the site. Instead, borders should be opened and people frozen within the EU should be admitted, Burkhardt said.
It is also surprising that a serious discussion has not even started in Germany. Even Merz’s provocative statements so far have remained without contradiction. The human rights activist asked the prime ministers of the federal states and Chancellor Merkel to discuss the admission of refugees at their meeting next Tuesday.
Dramatic situation in Lipa and Kara Tepe
Before Christmas, the Lipa refugee camp in Bihac, Bosnia, was evacuated and later destroyed by fire. However, since the authorities could not find other accommodation for the approximately 1,000 migrants, they had to return to the burned camp. Since then, they have been housed in makeshift tents in freezing temperatures without heating.
Camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos had already become uninhabitable in September due to a fire. As a result, a makeshift tent camp was built in Kara Tepe to house 7,000 people. Since mid-October, the humanitarian situation has been deteriorating, not least because there is little protection from cold and humidity.
