The new German interior minister has chosen to go to the border with Austria to explain Germany’s new immigration policy, which “cancels” Merkel with asylum seekers.

Caffeelden! This location in Bavaria causes nostalgia for many German holidaymakers. On the trip from Munich the motorway turns southeast to the Alps. Beyond Kaiffelden is Austria. The mountains call you, perhaps even Italy after the route over Brenner’s passage. The most beautiful weeks of the year start behind Kifersfelnden! The new Interior Minister, Alexander Dobrid, was also found here, stating that here, at the border, a new tone is prevalent.

He came to the border crossing with his colleague from the Christian Social Union, Bavarian Prime Minister Marcus Zender, Federal Police Chief Dieter Roman, and numerous journalists.

According to Dobrid, checks on the German border, not only here in Bavaria, are even stricter in the last week. The new government has declared war on irregular migration, already in the election campaign and now wants to achieve its goal. Unlike before, asylum seekers are blocked at the border and therefore not allowing them to enter the country. Only some groups, such as pregnant women and children, are still ignored.

“We will stop the machinations!”

For years the rule was: Anyone who had arrived in Germany by any means and stated that he wanted to apply for asylum was able to enter the country. This has now changed.

The CSU politician almost proudly points out: Since the new government under the Chancellor Friedrich Mertz (CDU), 739 attempts to enter the country have been prevented. Last week, 511 were prevented, representing a 45%increase. This is only possible, says Dobrid, because an additional 3,000 federal police officers have been transferred to the border. Before there were 11,000, now there are 14,000. Some of them now stand back or next to the minister. He is directly addressed and thanked for their work, often twelve hours a day, as he does not forget to mention.

Dobrid knows that Federal Police President Roman, who has also rushed to Kaiffelden, has been complaining about the increased workload of his staff for months. The previous SPD, Greens and FDP government had already begun stricter border controls.

Dobrid says that he has great respect for the work of police officers: “I would like to see this respect, which we express today, express it more clearly in society. It is our police officers who ensure our increased security in Germany. They ensure that we are taking massive measures against the criminal gangs of smuggling. “

Cancellation of Merkel’s Asylum Policy

Criminals slave traders, illegal immigration: Dobrid uses these terms over and over again. The new cruelty of immigration is also a final showdown with former Chancellor Merkel’s policies. Especially in 2015 and 2016 it allowed the country to enter hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, from many African countries and invented the phrase “we can do it”.

The new Chancellor Mertz also stressed in his government statement in the middle of this week, almost reassuringly, that Germany remains a migration. But as far as police officers in Kaiffelden are concerned, Dobrid puts it somewhat complicated, saying that police will now ensure that the classroom is prioritized in the “combination of humanity and order”. To this end, even more drones, imaging cameras and helicopters will now be used.

Tusk to Mertz: “AfD is your problem!”

During the election campaign, the current Chancellor Mertz promised to introduce a different immigration policy on the first day of his term. This is not partly irrelevant to the successes of the right -wing party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD), which has earned points in Germany in recent years with its clear “no” in any form of immigration. But the new German cruelty is not well accepted everywhere in Germany and Europe.

At the beginning of his term, Mertz heard during his visit to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw that the eastern neighbor also wants to combat illegal immigration, but rather at the EU’s external border rather than the German border. Poland will not accept refugees from Germany, Tusk said directly to Mertz: “The AfD is your problem, Mr Chancellor,” Tusk added.

Mertz kindly replied: “We want to develop European immigration and asylum policy together and we will also carry out border controls in a way that is accepted by our neighbors.”

Mertz announced during the election campaign that he wanted to limit the number of refugees to 100,000 people a year in the future. Last year, 229,751 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time. Significantly less than in 2015, when about a million people came to Germany. But again almost two and a half times more than Mertz wants in the future. Elements that the new government must now be judged.