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Berlin (German news agency) – The Union and the Left Party are sharply criticizing the EU Commission’s proposal to relieve states unwilling to accept them of compensation payments for the planned distribution of refugees. Alexander Throm, the domestic policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, told the “Welt” (Monday edition): “22,000 euros are a real bargain. That corresponds to social benefits in Germany in about one to two years.”
A mandatory mechanism with a certain basic distribution of refugees is needed at EU level, says Throm of the “world“. “No country should be allowed to buy its freedom completely. Because the refugee from whom an EU country buys its freedom must be taken in by another country.”
Clara Bünger, spokeswoman for the Left Party on refugee policy, considers “the idea that states can buy their way out of human rights obligations is fundamentally dangerous”. The EU must “distance from the principle of first entry” and enable fair distribution in agreement with those seeking protection from the outset, she told the “world“. For the FDP migration politician Ann-Veruschka Jurisch, on the other hand, “it is expedient that the member states are now being offered different options for fulfilling their obligations when taking in refugees”. However, no country should be able to “buy itself free” from the actual recording.
Legally, however, it is essential to bring about “an alignment of benefits for refugees in all member states” in the EU. “As long as this is not the case, redistribution will not work well,” she told the “Welt”. The domestic political spokesman for the AfD, Gottfried Curio, generally rejects redistribution: “Anyone who does not seek protection coming directly from a neighboring country of the EU, but, coming from their primary refugee country, has already traveled through at least one safe intermediate country”, is in the EU -Border no longer a refugee and should not be distributed. In the last few days it has become known that according to the ideas of the EU Commission, the compensation payments for states critical of the EU distribution should be around 22,000 euros per refugee who is not admitted. First of all, the EU political portal Euractiv, as well as Polish and Italian media, reported on Saturday also the Berlin “TAZ”. The Commission did not deny this figure of 22,000 euros when asked by “Welt” but it could not be confirmed either because the content of the negotiations between the EU institutions and the member states was not commented on. However, a spokesman confirmed that the Commission had emphasized its position on the distribution to the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States in the preparatory meetings for the Council of Interior Ministers on Migration due on Thursday. “Solidarity must be guaranteed. That is why the Commission advocates a system of compulsory solidarity.” This can be done by taking in people who have been redistributed, giving “operative support” to the overburdened states, or making monetary payments.