Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is meeting with his colleagues from several EU countries in Munich on Saturday (October 4) to discuss toughening migration policy. According to the German Interior Ministry, this is only a "working meeting" and no final statement is planned.
The meeting aims to pave the way for so-called return centers, Dobrindti announced. These centers would house rejected asylum seekers from Europe who cannot return to their countries of origin, Dobrindti told the "Münchner Merkur". They should be placed as close to their countries of origin as possible.
Such centers are already being worked on at the EU level, but Minister Dobrindt is not satisfied and said that the EU cannot be relied upon to create "such return centers." According to his ideas, some EU member states should be able to take a leading role in this matter.
NGOs: Instrumentalization of migration policy
Refugee organizations announced protests against the meeting and the tougher measures discussed. They criticized "the instrumentalization of migration policy for socio-political imbalances and racist exclusion."
According to the Federal Interior Ministry, the Munich meeting is expected to be attended by, in addition to the interior ministers of Poland, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland, the migration ministers of Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as the EU Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner.
Dobrindt met with colleagues from five EU member states in July. At that time, the participants strongly called for deportations to Syria and Afghanistan, better protection of the EU's external borders and more acceptance of asylum seekers rejected by non-EU countries. Drone flights, which have been hotly debated recently, are also expected to be a topic of discussion./DW
