Angela Merkel will offer cash handouts
worth millions of pounds for migrants to leave Germany in an effort to
silence criticism of her ‘open-door’ border policy.
In
a highly-embarrassing U-turn over the ill-fated plan, which saw
1.2million migrants flock to the country, Mrs Merkel has now vowed to
send many of them home.
The German
chancellor agreed a package of measures to speed up the deportation
process for an estimated 450,000 migrants who have been rejected asylum.
The controversial plan, which marks a
significant toughening of previous proposals, includes a £76million
scheme that will offer migrants cash incentives to leave Germany
voluntarily.
Many will see the move as a
desperate attempt for Miss Merkel to claw back support ahead of her
challenging re-election bid in September.
Criticism
of her decision to leave Germany’s borders open and welcome all
refugees during Europe’s migration crisis in 2015 has led to a surge in
support for anti-immigrant parties.
Flaws in the open borders system were
highlighted in the aftermath of last year’s Christmas market attack in
Berlin when it was revealed that Tunisian terrorist Anis Amri had been
denied asylum months earlier.
The plans
agreed by Miss Merkel will allow officials to analyse asylum seekers’
telephones in an attempt to verify their identity, while rules for
detaining migrants will be widened.
The
proposed crackdown, which has been criticised by human rights groups,
will also include the creation of a department in Berlin to co-ordinate
mass deportations.
As part of the 16-point
plan, a number of ‘federal departure centres’ will also be established
near airports to hold migrants before they are deported.
Miss
Merkel admitted that relying solely on migrants putting themselves
forward for deportation would fail to tackle the huge backlog of
rejected requests.
‘We rely heavily on
voluntary departures, but we know that voluntary departures will not
take place if people know that there is never a mandatory return to
their home country,’ she said.
The deal was agreed with Germany’s 16 regional governors, who are largely responsible for orchestrating deportations.
Current
measures have left officials struggling to deport those whose asylum
requests are rejected, largely because they come from areas deemed to be
safe, unlike war-torn countries such as Syria.
Of
the 170,000 applications that were rejected last year, 55,000 decided
to leave voluntarily and a further 26,000 were repatriated.
(Daily Mail)
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