Asylum dispute escalates:

CSU partner wants to send migrants back to us!

Migrants at the Bavarian-Austrian border: The Free Voters are now calling for consistent refoulement to Austria.

(Bild: APA/BARBARA GINDL)

The dispute between Bavaria and Austria over the handling of refugees at the border has reached a new climax. The ruling CSU's coalition partner is now adding fuel to the fire and issuing a threat to Vienna. 

The Free Voters (FW), who form the Bavarian state government together with the CSU, are now calling for the immediate refoulement of refugees at the German borders without any further procedure.

Free Voters refer to the German constitution
German citizens are entitled to the implementation of Article 16a of the German Basic Law, according to which asylum seekers who come to Germany via EU and safe third countries are not entitled to asylum, said Bavarian FW parliamentary group leader Florian Streibl.

I expect the German government to show the same degree of robustness that neighboring countries have shown in waving asylum seekers through.

Hubert Aiwanger, Vorsitzender der FW Deutschland und Bayerns Wirtschaftsminister

Even a lawsuit is being considered
This could lead to new conflicts in the now piquant asylum dispute between Bavaria and Austria. The FW even want to persuade their coalition partner, the CSU, to file a joint lawsuit with the German Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.

Checks at the German-Austrian border

(Bild: APA/dpa/Tobias C. Köhler)

Criticism of lengthy asylum procedures
According to their ideas, constitutional law should be implemented by the German government in such a way that people who want to enter Germany from Austria, for example, can be immediately turned back by the police without further proceedings. Until now, if they formulate the word "asylum", they are taken to an "anchor center", where the often lengthy German asylum procedure begins.

Migrants at the Bavarian-Austrian border: The Free Voters are now calling for consistent refoulement to Austria.

(Bild: APA/BARBARA GINDL)

Attacks cause a political rethink in Germany
Such demands, which are based on the so-called Dublin Convention, have become increasingly vocal in Germany in recent weeks in the wake of attacks. The German government has ordered additional border controls and is also considering comprehensive refoulement of migrants at the borders.

Karner defies criticism from Bavaria 
In response, Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) emphasized that Austria would not accept any people who were turned away by Germany. "There is no leeway", Karner had emphasized.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) announces massive resistance to the announced rejections of migrants at the German borders.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA, AFP/DPA)

In an interview with krone.at on Friday, he tightened the tone towards the neighbor: "The Ministry of the Interior has once again instructed the affected provincial police directorates not to accept entry refusals by the German authorities that violate EU law and to report any observations immediately."

The Ministry of the Interior has once again instructed the state police directorates concerned not to accept refusals of entry by the German authorities in violation of EU law and to report any observations without delay.

Österreichs Innenminster Gerhard Karner (ÖVP)

CSU partner calls for "robustness" towards neighboring countries
However, the chairman of the FW Deutschland and Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger says he expects the German government to show the same degree of "robustness" that neighboring countries have shown so far by "waving through" asylum seekers. If illegal migrants are apprehended at or near the German border, they must be "collected and returned immediately".

Scholz wants to inform EU partners about Germany's border plans
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to discuss asylum policy with several European heads of government in the coming days. Scholz will "soon" speak individually with the heads of state and government of neighboring European countries to explain Germany's plans, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Friday.

"There has been irritation"
"There have been irritations," admitted a spokesperson for the German Ministry of the Interior. The ministry also announced that German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPÖ) had invited government representatives from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Poland, Slovenia and Great Britain as well as the Western Balkan states on September 17 as part of the "Berlin Process".