German leader hardens on deportations amid row
with far right as EU election looms
Chancellor says violent, foreign-born criminals, even
from Syria and Afghanistan, may be forced to leave
Deborah
Cole in Berlin
Thu 6 Jun
2024 17.11 CEST
The German
chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has told parliament he backs the deportation of
violent, foreign-born criminals even if they come from Syria or Afghanistan, as
he signalled a more hardline stance three days before Germans vote in European
elections.
In a heated
debate days after an Afghan asylum seeker allegedly killed a police officer at
a far-right rally, Scholz responded on Thursday to accusations by the
conservative opposition and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
that his government was lax on deportations.
He told
MPs, to applause: “Let me be clear: it outrages me when someone who has sought
protection here in our country commits the most serious crimes.
“Such
criminals should be deported, even if they come from Syria and Afghanistan.”
The Afghan
suspect, 25, allegedly fatally stabbed a 29-year-old police officer who was
trying to stop him from committing an attack ahead of a political rally in the
south-western city of Mannheim.
The suspect
arrived in Germany as a teenager in 2013 and, although his claim for asylum was
rejected, he was reportedly not deported – initially due to his young age.
The country
stopped carrying out deportations to Afghanistan in 2021 after the Taliban
returned to power. It has determined that the precarious security situation in
Syria would also prohibit deporting people there.
Migration
has dominated the campaign for the European parliament elections – to be held
in Germany on Sunday – and Scholz has struggled to maintain the upper hand
against fierce criticism from the AfD, which is expected to make gains despite
a series of recent scandals.
On
Thursday, the chancellor vowed consequences for asylum seekers who “glorify
terrorist crimes”. “It is a slap in the face to the victims, their loved ones
and our democratic basic order,” he said.
But he
warned against using killings such as the one in Mannheim to stir up
xenophobia. “Everyone in our country must be able to live without fear of their
fellow human beings.”
Scholz said
the federal interior ministry was already working on “legally and practically
feasible means” to return people convicted of crimes to Afghanistan, and
holding talks on the matter with the country’s neighbours.
The
proposed changes came in for criticism from within Scholz’s unwieldy three-way
coalition. Greens MP Julian Pahlke told Der Spiegel the chancellor’s initiative
was “aimless” and unlikely to stand up in court.
German law
stipulates that the country does not return asylum seekers to countries where
they could face torture, death or other inhumane treatment.
Speaking in
parliament on Thursday, Scholz also went on the attack against the AfD, calling
it “embarrassing” that the party had received “high praise” from the Russian
president, Vladimir Putin.
The Russian
leader told foreign reporters late Wednesday that he saw “no signs of
neo-nazism in the activities of the AfD” and that if the party “speaks out in
favour of normal relations with our country, with Russia, we only support
this”.
German
intelligence services have designated the AfD a suspected right-wing extremist
organisation, with several of its local branches called “confirmed” extremist.
The
centre-right CDU-CSU looks set to claim about 30% in Sunday’s vote, according
to a final poll, with the AfD, Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens
fighting for a distant second place with between 13 and 16%.
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