Kretschmer: Asylum law must be adapted to the current situation

Ahead of the meeting of the heads of the federal states in Leipzig, Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer has spoken out in favor of a constitutional amendment to deal with the migration crisis. "We finally need a peace on asylum", the CDU politician told the "Tagesspiegel" (Tuesday). Although the basic right to asylum is a central pillar of the Basic Law, it must be adapted to the current situation.

The goal, which will also be discussed at the Minister Presidents' Conference, must be a significant reduction in the number of immigrants. Kretschmer illustrated this with the example of Saxony, where around 500 new children have to be enrolled in school every week, but there is a shortage of teachers: "For the coming years, the aim is for the number of asylum seekers to be in the region of 30,000 people per year rather than the current 200,000."

Inspiration from the asylum compromise of the 1990s

The corresponding measures would then be derived from an "agreement" on such a reduction. In doing so, "the asylum compromise from the 1990s should be taken as a model - with comprehensive rejections at the borders."

Kretschmer believes that agreement from the states not governed by the CDU/CSU is also possible: "The SPD minister presidents have a very clear and responsible view of the current situation," he explained. "When it comes to migration and border controls, they are much closer to reality than the Social Democratic parliamentary group in the Bundestag."

Kretschmer pointed out that calls to tighten asylum laws in countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark had fallen on receptive ears, while "Germany had successfully listened away". Now it is the former EU Council President Donald Tusk who is making this pressure to act clear - and that is "good".

The Polish head of government recently defended the tough stance against migrants on the border with Belarus. These are not spontaneous refugees, but organized paramilitary groups, Tusk told Gazeta Wyborcza. These were being trained in Syria and Iran for illegal border crossings and dangerous behavior. There is also a recruitment system via Russian and Belarusian embassies.