The EU does not want to make a concrete commitment to accept Afghans
For the time being, the EU does not want to make any concrete commitments to accept people from Afghanistan. “Incentives for illegal migration should be avoided“, It said in a statement adopted on Tuesday at a special meeting of the interior ministers. In the light of previous experience, the EU and its member states are determined to repeat large and uncontrolled illegal migratory movements to prevent.
This was on the so-called Refugee crisis in 2015/2016 alluded to. At that time, millions of migrants came to the EU. In Germany alone, around 1.2 million people an application for asylum for the first time. Many of them came from Syria, where a civil war had started in 2011. In order to avoid a similar development after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, according to the declaration, it should now be ensured that people in need are in the immediate neighborhood of Afghanistan receive adequate protection. In addition, among other things Targeted information campaigns against the narratives of people smugglers named as a suitable instrument.
Afghans in need of protection should therefore only be resettled if EU countries voluntarily offer places for this. When asked about Germany’s possible involvement, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer pointed out that the Federal Republic had always been involved in relevant initiatives so far. However, he did not want to make any specific commitments. “I do not think it is very wise if we are talking about numbers here nowbecause numbers naturally trigger something, “said the CSU politician. One wants no “pull effect” Trigger (suction effect).
The CSU politician criticized his Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn, who had at times threatened to withdraw the EU declaration from his point of view insufficient pledges of support to block. “Mr Asselborn should look a little more closely at the problems that the big countries in the European Union have,” he said. One is not talking about a few hundred people, but about many thousands who are already in Germany. Luxembourg should be a piece more consideration for the main receiving countries to take.
In the end, Asselborn gave in after the EU Commission had promised, in September new settlement forum to organize. Countries there could then promise to accept a certain number of people in need of protection. (dpa)
