Humanity And Human Dignity Are the Basis of Our Society
DIE LINKE party chairs, Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, DIE LINKE Land chair of Thuringia and chair of the parliamentary group in Thuringian Landtag, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, as well as DIE LINKE Land chair of Brandenburg, Christian Görke, issued a joint statement on the current asylum and refugee policy:
The Federal Republic of Germany faces one of the biggest challenges with the admittance and integration of hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers since reunification. Neither the protection of human dignity established by basic law, nor the fundamental right of asylum may be put up for discussion while mastering this situation. We share the constitutional reservations against a reduction of the guaranteed subsistence minimum for all people living in Germany. Laws, containing such regulations, cannot be met with our approval, especially in Lands where DIE LINKE has governmental responsibility.
DIE LINKE demands decentral accommodation and firmly rejects residential obligation and work bans. It is unacceptable that asylum seekers have to stay compulsory in initial reception centers up to six month. We will have no part in classifying refugees in allegedly good and bad, unannounced deportations as legal specification, and the limitation of humanitarian decisions of the hardship case committee. The allegedly safe countries of origin are anything but secure – Romani people, for example, are systematically persecuted in some of those countries due to racism.
The public debate focussing on restrictions and deterrment bypasses reality. People, fleeing from war, violence, and persecution do not ask if there is pocket money in store for them in Germany. We do not want a Europe of cold hearts. 25 years after the fall of the iron curtain we may not resign ourselves to the fact that walls and fences are raised again within the EU, while its external borders resemble a “Fortress Europe”.
The Federal Republic of Germany as a state and society needs to switch over to integration. We particularly expect the federal government to distance itself from its fixation on generating budget surplusses in these challenging times and passes its financial scope completely to Lands and municipalities for their funding of an integration offensive. The financial promises of the federal level do not entirely meet the actual challenges of Lands and municipalities. They do also not include the costs – decisively determined by federal guidelines – arising for Lands and municipalities from the upcoming law on improvement of accommodation, provision, and care of foreign children and adolescents. The financial commitments are especially for the financially weaker Lands in this design not affordable.