Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies want to ban migrants from entering Germany unless they have valid identity papers, a draft document from the Christian Social Union (CSU) showed on Wednesday.
Germany, boasting Europe’s largest economy, is the target destination for many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, and Bavaria — ruled by the CSU — is the main entry point for them.
The draft CSU document, due to be discussed at a party meeting next week, also says that the deliberate destruction of identity papers and false statements made by applicants were not only delaying the asylum process but often making it impossible.
“Our state can no longer accept this if it wants to remain being governed by the rule of law in the long-term,” it said.
“Replacement papers can, after all, be procured in the safe countries neighboring us.”
The migrant crisis, which saw 965,000 asylum seekers arrive in Germany in the first 11 months of 2015, has dented Merkel’s popularity and her conservative bloc has been divided over how to tackle the issue.
Reuters
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