Greens demand answers from Dobrindt on the border regime

The Green Party is demanding answers from Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) to a list of questions on the new border regime. The questions have been exclusively obtained by the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND). Parliamentary group leader Britta Hasselmann, parliamentary group vice-chair Konstantin von Notz, and interior policy experts Marcel Emmerich and Irene Mihalic will submit the 18 questions on Monday. Dobrindt will then have one week to respond.

Dobrindt had ordered that asylum seekers could also be turned away. Green Party MPs are demanding clarity on who exactly decides whether this "may" provision will be implemented. They want to know exactly what legal basis will be used for rejections. They are asking about the exact number of stationary checkpoints and their operating costs, as well as the economic impact of the planned tightening of internal border controls on cross-border goods traffic.

Dobrindt is expected to provide a precise list of "the expected additional time required per border crossing for the movement of people and goods due to the planned stricter internal border controls." He is also asked how the federal government intends to minimize the impact on cross-border commuters "when 33,500 people from France alone and almost 95,000 people from Poland commute across the German border every day for work reasons."

The members of parliament also want to know how "vulnerable persons seeking protection" who are not rejected are treated. Will their asylum applications be processed in Germany, or will the responsible Member State be determined first according to a Dublin procedure? And shouldn't this also be done for all asylum seekers, since the "Dublin Regulation takes precedence over German law"?

"The new federal government has decided to pursue symbolic politics that harms Europe and violates the law," Marcel Emmerich, domestic policy spokesperson for the Green Party parliamentary group, told RND. "Merz and Dobrindt's actions are a clear affront to our European partners and are causing an embarrassing mess. Instead of more cooperation, the federal government is opting for isolation and unilateral action, creating chaos at the borders."

Emmerich expects that the rejection of asylum seekers at the borders is “contrary to European law – sooner or later, this will catch up with the federal government.”

Emmerich appealed to the Federal Minister of the Interior: "Dobrindt must finally inform the public about what he is doing, end the chaos quickly, and provide clarity. This fatal mismanagement is a political fiasco: anti-European, damaging to the economy, and irresponsible towards federal police officers and those seeking protection."