Marking a shift in his party’s rhetoric, the chairman of the SPD-Parliamentary Group, Thomas Oppermann, spoke out in favor of sending refugees arriving on boats back to North Africa. In an editorial he penned in the Sunday edition of the German daily newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, Oppermann justified his view arguing that this would be an important step to curb human trafficking. Reports Deutsche Welle.
“In order to fight human trafficking gangs more successfully we have to deprive them of the grounds on which they conduct their business, by returning refugees saved in the Mediterranean to North Africa and attending to their needs there,” Oppermann wrote.
“The solution will not solely involve a greater level of cooperation with the broken country of Libya but will also include more stable transit countries in North Africa, including Morocco and Tunisia.”
Oppermann’s words come in support of an initiative by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere aimed at establishing a reception center for refugees in Tunisia and thus strengthening Europe’s borders. De Maiziere last month said that some refugees should “not arrive in Europe in the first place but rather be returned to safe places.”
EU leaders recently also agreed that they want to work toward expanding these centers, particularly into Libya.
