The German federal government and the state of Brandenburg have signed a cooperation agreement on the return of asylum seekers under the Dublin procedure. Most of them are to be expelled to Poland, reports Do Rzeczy.
On Monday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Brandenburg Interior Minister Katrin Lange signed an agreement to improve efforts to combat illegal immigrants. For this purpose, a Dublin Center will be set up on March 1 in Eisenhüttenstadt, on the grounds of the Central Office for Foreigners of Brandenburg.
“So that we can continue to protect people from war and terror, the following principle also applies: Anyone who is not allowed to stay in Germany must leave our country (…) Our authorities will work closely together to ensure fast and effective procedures,” Faeser said.
Lange, in turn, stressed that the common goal of the federal government and the Brandenburg authorities is to “accelerate the transfer procedures” of illegal migrants.
A press release from the German Ministry of the Interior states that due to Brandenburg’s good relations with neighboring provinces in Poland, the Dublin Center will operate “with a focus on returns to Poland.” In order to speed up the procedures, the Central Immigration Office of Brandenburg will be closely involved in coordinating the details of the transfers with the competent authorities in Poland, with all transfers to take place within two weeks.
Lange, a member of the SPD, also announced that a migrant center on Oder Island in Kuestrin-Kietz, on the border with Poland, near Kostrzyn, will no longer be built. Residential containers at the planned center were expected to accommodate around 250 people whose asylum applications in Germany had been rejected.
Now it appears, Germany simply plans on dumping migrants in neighboring Poland.
Polish journalist Aleksandra Fedorska pointed to an interview given by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to German radio station Deutschlandfunk in which he says that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will implement the migration pact in Poland.
Scholz also told ARD television earlier in February that he has spoken with leaders of neighboring countries and told them that expulsions from Germany were in accordance with European law and “they have to accept it.”
“I really don’t like it, I ask the prime minister to explain what this situation is,” said Fedorska. “I am outraged by Germany’s approach that we should implement the migration pact, even if we do not want to,” she added.
Tusk has repeatedly promised that Poland will not be enacting the EU migration pact, as it is exempt under the law due to the refugees it has taken from Ukraine. However, as Olivier Bault from the Ordo Iuris Institute told Remix News, this is simply not the case, and Tusk knows it.
“Tusk must be aware that the Ukrainians who fled to Poland in 2022 and 2023 will have no impact on the migrant relocations set to begin next year,” Bault said.
Germany will hold its federal election on Feb. 23.
