Landmark: AfD presents its first bill in German parliament

Published by carolyn on Thu, 2018-01-18 18:23

The 92 Alternative for Deutschland delegates are seated on the far-right end of the delegate seating. It is the first time since 1933 that a "far-right" party has offered legislation in the Prussian-era edifice.


THE ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY PARTY HAS INTRODUCED A BILL aimed at permanently banning refugees from bringing their close relatives over from 'war-stricken' countries. The move sparked a spirited, sometimes impolite debate in the Bundestag. From Deutsche Welle:

Thursday marked a historical moment for the Reichstag. It was the first time since the old parliament building burned down in 1933 that a far-right party has been able to present a draft law in the venerable Prussian-era edifice, a building revamped and reopened for the new democratic age in reunified Germany during the 1990s.

Unsurprisingly, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) chose to present a bill to the chamber that reflected the key policy that has elevated them to the third-largest political force in the Bundestag: stopping immigration. Specifically, their bill was an alteration to Germany's Residence Act that would permanently ban refugees with "subsidiary protection" status from bringing over their close relatives from war-torn countries. 

Subsidiary protection is an intermediate status defined under European law, which "applies when neither refugee protection nor an entitlement to asylum can be granted and yet serious harm is threatened in the country of origin," as the German federal refugee agency BAMF puts it on its website. Once granted, it entitles the asylum seeker to a one-year residence permit, which can be extended on reapplication, as well as the right to work.

And to bring in close relatives. These close relatives often end up being unrelated people living in their home village.

"The incentives to come here must end," said AfD Bundestag member Gottfried Curio as he opened Thursday's 45-minute parliamentary debate. "The magnet must finally be turned off." Curio also argued that the system was being routinely abused by those with the status, and that many asylum seekers merely claim to be related, "according to the motto: we all come from the same village, where we're all somehow related." 

A member of the Left Party (former Communist Party that DW calls "Socialist" while calling AfD "Far Right") called AfD a "racist party" and the bill "anti-humanitarian."

A recent study by criminologists suggested that allowing refugees to live with their families might be a significant factor in reducing crime among young male migrants.

"People with subsidiary protection are people who have fled war and torture," said Bellinda Bartolucci, legal policy adviser for the refugee rights organization Pro Asyl. "It's not a status that is simply handed out — it requires specific circumstances in the country of origin that aren't just going to be sorted out over a few months. We're talking about people who we know are going to stay for years."

She went on to argue that it was inhumane to expect such people to be deprived of their family. "How are people supposed to integrate when they constantly fear for their families?" she told DW. "How is a young person supposed to concentrate on school, or on training?"

These are people who should stay with their families then, if it's too painful to be separated. If they are young students, it's not logical that they fled torture.

The AfD, though, opposes the integration of refugees on principle.

The AfD went on to add that any relatives of refugees who might be in danger back home in Syria or Afghanistan should instead move to "pacified, or uncontested zones in their home country, or else in protective camps in a neighboring country."

Comments

How many germans will know the Kalergi or Hooton Plans ??It's exactly what they are facing right now.

Not many, just as these things have been covered up everywhere, but perhaps even more so in Germany.  Right now AFD is Germany's best hope.  If they continue to gain strength at the rate they recently have, they could become the most important party in Germany.  You can talk until you're blue in the face to Germans and the rest of humanity regarding WW II and what the Jews and their allies had in store for Germany because the victrious allies lied about everything, beginning before the war even started and when it was over they wrote the lies into law to protect the guilty, in particular the Jews.
 
IF AFD fails, the Jews will most likely succeed in their desire to wipe the Germans out thru genocide.  They're already well on their way to achieving success.  The genocide is about 20% complete.  That is the percentage of non-ethnic Germans that make up Germany's population according to one estimate.  That could even be a gross understatement. 

Couldn't agree more.

The Christian "dignitaries" are not happy with the AFD: The president of the German bishops' conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, warned that " every war has begun with the war cry. our nation first, we first."  Another christian luminary, Evangelical Church council president Heinrich Strohm said that "everyone needs to work together to ensure that the hate-filled voices of the AFD do not poison life in Germany.  Not that their opinions are even worth mentioning, after all the ruling party in Germany is the trecherous Christian Democratic Union. No wonder the most vicious enemies of NS Germany were the churches - big surprise!

Cardinal Marx fails to make clear that "our nation first" means "we are loyal and we take care of our nation first" rather than, as he would advise, take care of all the poor of the world (numbering in the billions!) and allow our nation to sink under the weight.

Yep, they were traitors then and are traitors now.

Hope may still exist for Deutschland after all. It may be just grasping at straws but perhaps like the "deplorables" in the US more and more Germans may be may be waking up and objecting to the role chosen for them by their ruling elite as welcoming door-mats.
John Moffat
whiteaustralia.blogspot.com.au

According to qz.com for January 19, 2018 "On Thursday (Jan. 18), Germany's lower house of parliament (Bundestag) voted to create [..] the role of anti-semitism commissioner. The commissioner is tasked with being a point of contact for Jewish groups, acting as a middleman for battling discrimination on a federal, state and local level. They will also coordinate with the government on implementing certain measures to carry this out, which will include ramping up the education and awareness of current and historical forms of anti-Semitism. The role is part of new legislation rolled out by Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc, alongside the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats. It even has backing from the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Only the far-left party Die Linke abstained from the vote".
(https://qz.com/1183820/anti-semitic-meaning-and-laws-germany-appoints-new-anti-semitism-commissioner/).
So, not much of an "alternative" move from AfD.
Anyway, let's see their next steps, then we will know if there is "hope".

Anyway, let's see their next steps, then we will know if there is "hope".

WE?!! Don't include me or my website in your "culture of critique." It takes absolutely nothing to say what you've said. And it accomplishes absolutely nothing. Is that your intention?

Do you think other people don't/can't read the news for themselves - people who follow German politics? Do you really think you are informing me or my readers of something they wouldn't otherwise know?

Have you ever heard that to get ahead you should pick your fights? It's pretty well  known among successful people. It would be of no benefit to anyone except the Jews and Leftist parties for AfD to come out against the antisemistism commissioner. They would not prevail. They would give all their enemies ammunition to use against them. In addition, AfD says it is not anti-Jewish and means it. NO POLITICAL PARTY IN EUROPE IS OPENLY ANTISEMITIC ... have you noticed?

I really question the motives of people like you who drop your gloom and doom comments here. If you had an actual argument to make that would be different, but  copy and paste is not an argument.

Sorry for the "gloom and doom", Madam. It was unintended.
It is to be wished that you - and many Germans - are right about AfD.

They are doing what is possible. To imagine that the AfD is some kind of controlled opposition, which is what I think you are getting at, is something I think is beneath consideration.

AfD is in the German Bundestag at 92 members strong. I was just watching them give some speeches - their section was breaking out in regular, enthusiastic applause while all the rest of the chamber remained silent. The other parties would deny them the right to speak if they could.

Best wishes and thank you for your gentlemanly apology.