Germany could leave the European Convention on Human Rights if it is unable to reform the European asylum system, one of the country’s leading conservative politicians has said.
Jens Spahn, who was Angela Merkel’s minister and represents the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Bundestag, said the measure is just one component of a long-range plan to reduce migration levels.
Similar suggestions have been made by politicians in Britain’s Conservative Party, with its leader Kemi Badenoch recently signaling that she would consider pulling the UK out of the European treaty.
Berlin and London have signed a new deal aimed at tackling immigration-related crime, with Germany toughening its laws to prosecute people smugglers seeking to bring people to Britain as part of the deal.
The CDU, which maintains a strong lead in polls in Germany ahead of snap elections in February, has put strengthening migration policy at the top of its agenda.
Party leader Friedrich Merz, who is likely to become chancellor, has said he would declare a national emergency to turn away much larger numbers of asylum seekers at Germany’s borders.
Merz’s allies, including Spahn, believe that European courts have defined the right to asylum too broadly and more generally than that set out in the original Convention and other refugee agreements established after World War II.
“We need to get back to the fundamental principle of providing protection,” Spahn said. The times. “Yes, we want to provide protection, but we also want to have control and be able to decide when, what and why.”
Jens Spahn, representative of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Bundestag, said the measure is just one component of a long-range plan to reduce migration levels.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in Strasbourg, eastern France
He believes other European countries are willing to work with Germany to address the migration crisis and change the law to strengthen national sovereignty.
“If you come to the conclusion – and this is the debate that is also taking place in the UK at the moment – that these things cannot be changed because there is no majority for it, then of course you will have to think about it.” new to your (ECHR) membership,’ Spahn told the Times.
‘God has not ordained that we have to be members of all these things. “We are happy to be a member, we are convinced multilateralists, but it also has to generate some benefit.”
All 46 members of the Council of Europe, including the United Kingdom, are signatories to the ECHR. The 27 EU countries are also bound by the Convention.
Changing the implementation of the law would require rewriting EU rules, as well as those surrounding the ECHR itself.
The former Health Minister, who is being promoted for another ministerial position if Merz becomes Chancellor, added that he is willing to risk disagreements with other European leaders to serve his country’s best interests and protect the German people.
Spahn said his party had learned from the “mistakes” of the Merkel era, including on migration, following her 2015 decision to keep Germany’s borders open.
Between 2015 and 2017, Germany received around half of all asylum applications submitted across the EU, with 1.1 million applications in 2015 alone.
The country has recorded 236,400 asylum applications and 71,000 illegal border crossings so far this year.
Some 20,110 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats in the five months since Keir Starmer entered Downing Street
Kemi Badenoch recently signaled that she would consider removing the UK from the European treaty.
These figures are lower than those of 2023 but higher than those that have prevailed since the 2015 migration crisis.
In the UK, 99,790 people applied for asylum in the year to September, 1% more than in the year ending September 2023.
Figures from the end of last month showed net migration hit a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
Meanwhile, some 20,110 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats in the five months since Keir Starmer entered Downing Street.