Internal conflict threatens the ruling German ‘traffic light’ coalition over its audacious plan to use British infrastructure in Rwanda to settle illegal migrants in the latest bid to appease drifting voters on the right.
Anxious politicians have suggested Germany could revive the scheme scrapped by Britain’s Labour government in an apparent effort to recoup support after the far right AfD made gains with its first-ever state-election win earlier this month.
But the move to shore up support has alienated factions on the left, with the Greens, centre-left SPD and liberal FDP fiercely opposing the plan 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. Basically, the EU would be in the hands of [President Paul] Kagame,’ Erik Marquardt, an MEP with the Green Party, told i.
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.
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 26-year-old Syrian man, suspect of the Solingen attack, is escorted by police on Aug 25
Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the scene of the knife attack on August 26
Demonstrators display a banner reading ‘AFD ban now’ during a demonstration in Erfurt, 1/9
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.
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.
‘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.’
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.
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’.
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.
But Poland 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 Hope Hotel in Rwanda, which was prepared to accept asylum seekers from the UK
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
‘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.
