Germany cuts aid to migrants seeking asylum in other EU countries

The Lower House of the German Parliament (Bundestag) approved this Friday a package of security measures – proposed by the Government in response to recent Islamist attacks – under which aid to migrants who are asylum seekers will be cut. also in other EU countries.

The package of measures is made up of several policies, including this one that restricts aid to those asylum seekers forced to leave the country and who have requested entry to another EU country, although this initiative clarifies that exceptions may be made in in the event that minors are involved.

The package of measures comes in response to an alleged Islamist attack that occurred at the end of August at a local party in the western German city of Solingen, when a 26-year-old Syrian asylum seeker fatally attacked a man with a knife. three people.

Investigations indicate that the perpetrator of the stabbing may have acted for extremist Islamist motives. In addition, it is estimated that the attacker would have evaded the expulsion order from Germany to Bulgaria, which has revived the debate about the treatment that German authorities provide to asylum seekers and migrants.

Along with this measure, the package approved by the Lower House of Bundestag includes a general ban on knives at public events, although an initiative to allow the Police to have access to biometric data on the Internet in certain serious investigations has been left out. including cases of terrorism.

In addition, a ‘green light’ has been given for the German authorities to deny the asylum application of people who have committed crimes “with anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic, gender, sexual orientation or other inhumane motives.” The Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, has praised this package of measures.

“We are prohibiting knives at public events and allowing the State to enact broader prohibitions,” Faeser celebrated, although he regretted that the expansion of police measures has been blocked, a maneuver that he described as “incomprehensible and irresponsible.”