EU civil war over Germany's migrant plan continues as Geert Wilders vows to copy it for the Netherlands and Hungary welcomes Berlin to the '#stopmigration club'
- The far-Right has made considerable gains as concern over migration mounts
- Germany's neighbours are divided on plans to bring in stricter border controls
Civil war has broken out in Europe over Germany's new plans to introduce strict border controls - with populist leaders giving their support for similar measures.
Yesterday Germany's government presented rigorous rules on asylum that would see more people turned away at its frontiers, a day after it announced it would start carrying out controls on all its land borders.
While Germany risks alienating the Left with its hardened stance on migration, Dutch politician Geert Wilders vowed to copy the plan for the Netherlands.
And Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán shared his support for the measures, welcoming Germany to the so-called #StopMigration club.
The centre-Left German government has also begun exploring strict measures on immigration, including a plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, in the wake of high arrivals of migrants from the Middle East and Ukraine.
The so-called 'traffic light coalition' looks to shore up support from voters after the far-right AfD made gains earlier this month as concerns grow over a spate of isolated Islamist attacks in recent months.
Olaf Scholz's government in Germany presented new plans for rules on asylum yesterday
German federal police watch over cars arriving at the German-Polish border on September 10
Hard-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has become the first of its ilk to win in the nation since the Second World War (File image, August 31)
The proposals include detaining asylum seekers while authorities determine whether Germany is responsible for processing their case with the help of Europe's shared fingerprint database, Eurodac, amongst other tools, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told a news conference.
'We want people whose asylum procedure is the responsibility of another EU country to be sent back there,' Faeser said.
The measures reflect Germany's hardening stance on immigration in the wake of high arrivals of asylum seekers from both the Middle East and Ukraine, which could strain relations with other European states.
'We will approach our European partners at a high political level to ensure that they give their approval for readmission to the respective countries more quickly so that the European rules are complied with,' Ms Faeser said.
At a time of heightened tension over the issue of migration within Europe, Right-wing leaders on the continent have espoused support for the plan.
Mr Wilders, who triumphed in the 2023 Dutch general election to see his far-right PVV party become the largest in the House of Representatives, backed the policy proposal.
He has struggled to gain support within the Netherlands and stepped back from his bid for prime minister in March, citing a lack of support from potential coalition partners, but has found a receptive audience through his staunch position on immigration.
He expressed support for a similar policy To Germany's within the Netherlands, writing: 'If Germany can do it, why can't we? As far as I'm concerned: the sooner, the better.'
Both the far-Right PVV and the Right-wing Liberal VDD parties have shown interest in greater border checks in line with those recently announced by Germany.
Migration minister Majolein Faber has already asked military police to begin preparations.
'In the meantime, we are talking to Germany about working together,' she said on social media.
Wilders backed the checks, telling reporters yesterday he would like to see controls brought in 'as soon as possible'.
'I saw the minister say on television she just told the European Commission, and I thought, we can do that too,' Wilders said.
VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz said the German policy was 'super interesting, and we can do it too'.
Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary, wrote on Twitter/X yesterday: 'Germany has decided to impose strict border controls to stop illegal migration.
'Chancellor Scholz, welcome to the club! #StopMigration'
The post had been shared four thousand times at the time of writing.
Hungary has a population of 9.7million, declining 0.31 per cent, in line with much of Europe.
The central European nation, surrounded by mountains, has brought in strict policies to limit migration under Orbán - a move the EU has pushed back on, fining Hungary 200 million euros (£170mn) in June after it failed to make changes.
Under current legislation, people can only submit requests for asylum outside Hungary's borders, at its embassies in neighbouring Serbia or Ukraine.
Those who try to cross the border are routinely pushed back.
Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers, of the Sweden Democrats, told MailOnline that Europe faced challenges securing borders due to the 'madness' of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's policies.
'If we don't secure the external border then internal border controls will become the norm. I've said this for years.
'That a left-liberal German government re-institutes border checks highlights the madness of Merkel's policy and that the debate in Europe has shifted.
'Citizens want safety and security, not mass migration and chaos.'
Germany welcomed a more open policy towards migration under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel, allowing more than one million asylum seekers to cross over into Germany in 2015.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban espoused support for Germany's plans
Despite suggestion the plans may contravene EU law, Germany's precedent inspired Geert Wilders of the Dutch PVV party to say: 'If Germany can do it, why can't we?'
A 26-year-old Syrian man, suspect of the Solingen attack, is escorted by police on Aug 25
The government has justified the strict border controls, claiming they contribute to 'the protection of internal security against the current threats of Islamist terrorism and cross-border crime' (Afghan migrant pictured in knife attack in Mannheim)
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attend a press conference after meeting with opposition on border plans
Post-election polls suggest asylum and migration are the two key issues for Germans nationwide, and that support for the party is genuine - rather than a protest vote - piling pressure on the coalition government to act.
Concerns about immigration have been pushed to the forefront of German politics with a series of attacks by Islamists rocking the country in recent months, most recently at a gathering of Christians in Solingen late last month.
But Germany's neighbours have already criticised plans to introduce temporary controls into the passport-free Schengen zone.
Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, said that Germany was acting unilaterally and unfairly in its 'unacceptable' plans that risked breaking European law.
He said Germany had introduced a 'de facto suspension of the Schengen agreement on a large scale' in its bid to confront what German interior minister Nancy Faeser called 'irregular migration'.
Ms Faesar's ministry said the move complied with national and European law and reflect 'coordinated action within Germany as well as within the EU'.
The EU cautioned that border checks could only be introduced as an 'exceptional' measure.
Geert van Eijk, of the trade association Evofenedex, said that delays could cost 'tens, perhaps even hundreds of millions of euros'.
But Austria has shown support for the checks.
In a televised debate ahead of the parliamentary election on September 29, Chancellor Karl Nehammer told national broadcaster ORF that if Germany introduced measures to send more immigrants back across their shared border, Austria would do the same, sending more people eastwards towards the Balkans.
The German government faces increasing pressure to be seen to respond to migration as support for the AfD gathers pace in the East.
The hard right party secured its first-ever state-election win in Thuringia on September 1 and came a close second in neighbouring Saxony.
Germany's Brandmauer - literally 'firewall', a coalition agreement not to ally with the AfD - remains in place to stop the party getting into power, but support for stricter policies on migration continues to galvanise the far-right at the expense of the SPD, the FDP and the Greens.
German migration commissioner Joachim Stamp suggested the country could utilise British developments in Rwanda for a similar scheme last week.
He claimed Russia and Belarus were intentionally pushing migrants into western Europe to destabilise Germany and its neighbours.
'My suggestion would be that we concentrate on this group. It's about 10,000 people a year,' he said on a podcast, adding that the deterrent of a Rwanda scheme could 'take away the motivation to come to the EU'.
Such a scheme would require changes to EU law on how asylum is processed.
The Hope Hotel in Rwanda, which was prepared to accept asylum seekers from the UK
Demonstrators display a banner reading 'AFD ban now' during a demonstration in Erfurt, 1/9
Right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) top candidate Bjoern Hoecke gives thumbs up on the day of the Thuringia state election in Erfurt, Germany, September 1, 2024
Far-right protesters hold a banner reading 'remigration now' as they march through the streets of Solingen, following a stabbing rampage, on August 26
A far right supporter with a shirt of the right-wing extremist minor party, The Third Path (Der Dritte Weg) attends a protest, in Solingen on August 26
Rwandan President Paul Kagame speaks during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing on September 5
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to 'examine' the case for an overseas asylum processing centre in November last year.
He insisted any scheme would be 'in compliance with the Geneva Convention on Refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights.'
But Scholz also recognised plans would be fraught with 'a whole series of legal questions'.
A spokesperson for the Rwandan government welcomed the suggestion, saying they were 'happy to work with anyone on this who shared their desire to find a long-term solution to the migration issue'.
But the move risks fracturing Germany's 'traffic light coalition'. Within Germany, the Greens, centre-left SPD and liberal FDP fiercely oppose the Rwanda proposals as being both illegal and costly.
'Even if we went ahead with it, it would mean the whole asylum system in Germany – and other European Union countries – would be dependent on one dictator in Rwanda,' Erik Marquardt, an MEP with the Green Party, told i.
'Basically, the EU would be in the hands of [President Paul] Kagame.'
'The problem is not migration. It's Islamism,' Mr Marquardt told i.
'Our approach is to try to find solutions. And the idea that there is one easy solution through just one measure, like sending people to Rwanda, is simply wrong.
'It is basically populism, and it was the same in the UK; the British government decided to put this populism into laws, and it was a big waste of money.'
Poland, while critical of the border checks, shares the claim that Russia has weaponised migration, encouraging asylum seekers to cross over into central Europe with attempted illegal border crossings from Belarus on the rise.
In line with other Western nations, the allure of populist parties appears to be partly motivated by the loss of highly-paid jobs.
Volkswagen announced last week it was considering shutting factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history, warning that the European automotive industry was in a 'very... serious situation'.
'The economic environment became even tougher, and new competitors are entering the European market. In this environment, we as a company must now act decisively,' chief executive Oliver Blume said.
The announcement marked a U-turn from a promise not to cut jobs in Germany until at least 2029.
The AfD has also won support for its critical stance on Germany's support to Ukraine.
Germany has been one of the biggest contributors of aid to Ukraine since the war broke out.
But concern over spending has offered support to fringe parties not toeing the line, despite the imminent threat posed by Russia to Europe.
