Germany — long seen as one of Europe’s most welcoming countries for refugees fleeing war zones in the Middle East and beyond — is moving to tighten its rules for asylum seekers, action that follows uproar surrounding mass robberies and sex assaults.
Chancellor Angela Merkel announced what’s referred to as “Asylum Package II” on Thursday, explaining her Cabinet will have the corresponding draft law in its hands shortly.
“Asylum Package II contains important regulations, [including] to speed up the asylum procedure and to reduce existing deportation challenges,” said Johannes Dimroth, a spokesman for Germany’s Interior Ministry. “The agreement on the (law) is therefore welcomed, without reservation.”
Among other measures, a two-year ban on those granted limited refugee protection bringing their families to Germany will be part of the law. Certain countries will be exempt, though.
“We will (be) designating three countries — Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria — as safe countries,” Merkel explained.
Migrants — 55,000 so far in January — flood Europe
Like others around Europe, Germany is in the middle of a migration crisis. People have been flooding the continent from nations ravaged by years of war, such as Iraq and Syria, where most citizens have been forced from their homes, or beset by rampant poverty like parts of parts of North and East Africa. In many places, migrants have run from persistent violence and real fears about getting food and getting by.
Over 1 million migrants were “irregular arrivals” in Europe in 2015. Many did not make it, like the 3,811 people reported dead or missing last year in the Mediterranean Sea by the International Organization for Migration.
And it’s not getting better: That same agency on Friday reported more than 240 killed at sea so far in January including the recent drowning of at least 10 children and 14 adults after their small boat capsized between Turkey and Greece, while an estimated 55,500 migrants made it safely to land.
The influx has put European nations on the spot. Some, like Hungary and Slovenia, have responded by erecting walls or fences or other measures signaling they do not want refugees to flood their homelands. The Netherlands, which currently holds the European Union presidency, is proposing all migrants who arrive in Greece be sent immediately back to Turkey, Dutch Labor Party spokesman Tim Leeuwerke said Friday. In return, European Union countries could take in as many as 250,000 refugees now in Turkish refugee camps.
Germany has been hailed for taking a starkly different approach, with Merkel being recognized as TIME magazine’s 2015 Person of the Year in part for committing to accepting 800,000 migrants in 2015, far more than any other European country.
German policies challenged after Cologne attacks
But that relatively open approach was severely tested on New Year’s Eve, when police in Cologne reported upwards of 581 criminal complaints revolving incidents primarily targeting women. Many of them related to robberies, and more than half alleged sexual offenses.
German authorities later identified 18 asylum seekers among the suspects in mass muggings and gropings, including nine Algerian nationals, eight from Morocco, five from Iran and four from Syria, Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said. A spokesman for the Cologne prosecutor’s office, Ullrich Bremer, later said some suspects were in Germany illegally in addition to those asylum seekers.
Those attacks spurred a vigorous debate about Germany’s migrant policy, with German officials like Merkel vowing firm, swift justice.
Among other things, Germany’s Justice Ministry announced new legislation to allow it to more easily deport migrants found guilty of crimes causing death or serious injury, sexual or physical assaults, or resisting police officers.
Some weren’t convinced the German government would be tough enough. They included protesters who took to the streets in the eastern German city of Leipzig chanting “Deport them!”
One banner showed the silhouette of a woman running from a mob and read, “Rapefugees not welcome.”