The German parliament voted to toughen rules for asylum seekers, on Friday, October 18, as Berlin takes a tougher line on immigration after recent electoral gains for the far right.
The new rules were brought forward by the government in August in response to a deadly stabbing at a festival in the western city of Solingen. The suspect, a 26-year-old Syrian man with suspected links to the Islamic State group, was slated for deportation but evaded authorities' attempts to remove him.
The package of measures will withdraw benefits from asylum seekers who have already been registered in other EU countries and are slated for deportation. It will also mean that refugees who temporarily return to their home countries will "as a rule" lose their right to protection in Germany, according to the legislation. The same will apply to refugees who commit crimes with anti-Semitic or homophobic motivation. The whole package will also introduce stricter rules on the carrying of knives and gives police broader powers of investigation.
While lawmakers in the Bundestag have approved the new rules, they still need to be passed by Germany's upper chamber, which will meet on Friday to decide on them.
With a year to go before national elections and anti-immigration parties rising in the polls, the government has been under intense pressure to take a stricter line on immigration. The benefits restriction provoked vocal criticism from within the government – a three-way coalition between Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal FDP.
After internal discussions, the legislation was changed to provide exemptions for children and to withdraw support only in cases where removal was actually possible. The implementation of the stricter rules marks a change in German attitudes toward immigration, almost a decade after former Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country's doors to refugees in 2015.
The new German approach comes against a backdrop of hardening attitudes to immigration across Europe, where far-right parties are garnering growing support. On Thursday, EU leaders called for urgent new legislation to increase the number and speed of migrant returns.