The European Union should abolish the right to asylum for those arriving in the bloc and instead introduce quotas whereby the most vulnerable refugees are taken directly from the source country and redistributed across EU member states, a prominent politician of Germany’s CDU opposition has claimed.
Thorsten Frei, the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, claimed that such a move would help to eradicate the waves of mass immigration at Europe’s borders and ensure that those who really need help in war-torn countries are able to receive it.
In an article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frei said that under his proposal individuals would no longer be eligible for asylum by simply arriving in Europe, and social benefits for newcomers arriving using current migratory routes would be “comprehensively ruled out.”
He bemoaned the fact that with the current practice in Europe, the asylum system is effectively the survival of the fittest, a practice that is resulting in disproportionate numbers of fighting-age males coming to Europe’s shores. Meanwhile, those too weak, poor, or vulnerable — those Europe should be helping the most — to embark on the perilous journey aren’t being cared for.
“Anyone who is too old, too weak, too poor or too ill has no chance. Women and children are often de facto excluded from our ‘humane’ rights,” the CDU politician wrote.
“So that as few people as possible claim their right, we are making it conditional on an application being made on European soil,” Frei said about the current asylum system, one he claims is “deeply inhumane” and endangers society.
Instead, the European Union should implement what he described as an “institute guarantee,” which would see the bloc accept 300,000 to 400,000 refugees per year from vulnerable groups and taken directly from war-torn countries.
“Even in the Scandinavian countries, the majority of the population believes that the load limit has been exceeded in recent years,” Frei observed, adding that the cyclic waves of mass immigration could only be stopped with widespread reform of Europe’s asylum laws.
“With such a right of asylum, Europe could not only address the weakest but also help states being destabilized by large influxes of refugees,” he added. Frei claimed that such a move would reduce the burden of illegal immigration on member states with an EU external border and stop the rise of right-wing populism as seen with the surge in support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Brussels is currently considering asylum reform by way of its controversial EU migration pact, which will see migrants redistributed across all 27 member states, despite opposition from Hungary and Poland. Member states who refuse will be issued financial penalties of up to €20,000 per rejected migrant to compensate the remaining members of the bloc.
