Germany’s new tougher stance on migration has met problems from Germany’s neighbour Switzerland.
Switzerland will not accept pushbacks of asylum seekers from Germany, Beat Jans, the federal councillor in charge of justice and police, told the Swiss state broadcaster SRF on May 17.
Jans, a Social Democrat, said he would travel to Berlin this month to meet Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s new interior minister.
“He will also present potential measures that Switzerland could take”, his department later added.
Dobrindt, a politician from Bavaria’s Christian Social Union, announced potentially far-reaching changes to Germany’s immigration and border policy on May 7.
He also rescinded a 2015 order requiring border police not to turn away individuals who said they wanted to claim asylum in Germany.
Now, this privilege will only extend to “vulnerable” asylum claimants, chiefly female and underage migrants.
All others who try to cross into Germany illegally will now be turned away at the border.
Dobrindt’s new policy was accompanied by a surge in border police personnel.
On May 14, Dobrindt said in first week of the new measures there had been a 45 per cent increase in the number of people denied entry.
Germany’s tougher stance however led to friction with neighbouring states and criticism from migration experts.
“The legal situation is clear: Germany is not allowed to do that,” Sarah Progin, a law professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, told local newspaper NZZ.
Swiss politicians from the centre and left commended Councillor Jans for choosing to confront Germany on the move.
“It is right that Switzerland protests against Germany’s unlawful policy”, said centrist MP Nicolò Paganini.
Liberal politician Damian Müller agreed, saying “the tougher tone from the Department of Justice is absolutely right in the current situation. It identifies the problems more clearly than we have often experienced in the past.”
However, some Swiss politicians see Germany as more of a role model in asylum policy than an antagonist.
Pascal Schmid, an MP for the conservative Swiss People’s Party, said “What the German government does is completely correct. It provides security for the population through border controls. I would expect the same from justice minister Beat Jans.”
According to newspaper NZZ , there have not been any cases of pushbacks at the Swiss border by German police since the new measures were put into place.
However, according to a source from the German border police, “it has become very difficult to get into Germany”.
