The Federal Ministry of the Interior advocates for sending refugees rescued in the Mediterranean Sea to Africa as quickly as possible. This was confirmed by a representative of the ministry to "Die Welt am Sonntag".
"The lack of prospects for reaching the European coast could be a reason for migrants to give up the idea of taking a dangerous journey, risking their lives and spend their money," a representative said. "The goal is to deprive trafficking organizations of capability to do their business and to protect migrants from the life-threatening journey over the Mediterranean Sea."
With this move, German authorities hope to ensure that African migrants won't undertake dangerous trip to Italy as they will have no chance for success.
According to the newspaper, a similar approach is pursued by Australia, where illegal immigration has declined to almost zero. The proposal has not yet been discussed at EU level, but has already sparked severe criticism among many politicians.
"The Ministry of the Interior treats refugees as a contagious disease that one wants to keep away," Katrin Göring-Eckardt, leader of the parliamentary fraction of the Green Party told the newspaper. "Anyone who denies refugees the right to a fair [application] process acts in a very controversial way — both in terms of refugee policy and the law."
At the same time, chairman of the Left Party, Bernd Riexinger, also told the newspaper that such measure is unacceptable. "This would be a humanitarian scandal and a further step towards the abolition of asylum law," he said.
"The asylum application process must take place in Germany, because the right to asylum also means access to legal resources, like lawyers, counseling centers, etc.," he said, adding that this would not be the case if applications are filed from abroad. "The handling of refugees in Australia is absolutely unacceptable, and Germany and the EU should not follow the suit," the politician stressed.
