Kretschmer: Migration commission without bans on thinking

Michael Kretschmer (CDU), Minister-President of Saxony, links the planned cross-party commission "Managing migration, protecting humanity" with progress in asylum policy. The commission must have neither blinkers nor bans on thinking and must also discuss an amendment to the Basic Law or cuts in benefits, he said on Wednesday in Berlin on the fringes of the meeting between the state premiers and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). The commission has a clear mandate to find instruments that can then be jointly implemented in order to actually reduce the number of people seeking protection.

According to Kretschmer, there is a common understanding, at least among the Union minister presidents, that refugee numbers like last year's cannot be sustained. "In January, we saw 26,000 people seeking protection in Germany. That is not possible." The commission is now a point of hope for moving away from party tactics. People would expect a solution. Germany will continue to be a country that shows solidarity and offers people protection. However, it can only take in as many people as it can integrate: "The loss of control of recent years must end."