Deportations, civil protection, hate online: At the spring conference, the interior ministers exchanged views on pressing issues. Saxony-Anhalt makes the federal government responsible for the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers.
Magdeburg/Würzburg (dpa/sa) – Saxony-Anhalt’s Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU) has called on the federal government to step up efforts in the case of deportations. “The federal government has announced a repatriation offensive, but there hasn’t been more than the announcement so far. Action must urgently follow words,” Zieschang told the German Press Agency on Friday after the end of the spring conference of interior ministers in Würzburg. Above all, talks with uncooperative countries of origin would have to be accelerated.
For years, Saxony-Anhalt has been urging the federal government to exert more force on states that are uncooperative in taking back rejected asylum seekers and in procuring replacement passports. “There can no longer be a trip by the federal government to West African countries where the procurement of replacement passport papers and the readmission of compatriots are not offensively discussed,” said the CDU politician.
In addition, the heads of departments of the federal states are calling for an improvement in civil protection and disaster control in Germany. “All interior ministers are calling for a financial commitment from the federal government of ten billion euros within the next ten years,” said Zieschang. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) should present a concept on how civil protection can be strengthened.
The interior ministers also discussed combating hate on the Internet. The point here is to break through anonymity on the Internet and identify perpetrators, explained the Magdeburg department head. To this end, users of social networks should be obliged to provide truthful personal data when registering. “It is just as important that the providers of social networks are obliged to check the identity data provided.” A concrete procedure is still to be worked out.
Finally, the conference dealt with additional measures to ward off disinformation campaigns. A “joint plan of action against disinformation and for a well-fortified democracy” is planned. To this end, a network with actors from the federal, state and local governments is to be set up.
