On Thursday, November 17, the 76th session of the Brandenburg state parliament took place. On the agenda: a motion of the parliamentary group Die Linke , to stop the construction of the deportation center at BER. We took a look at this debate, which was at times difficult to take : How do the various parties justify their positions on this racist project?
SPD:
The SPD has so far kept a low public profile regarding the deportation center. And that is for a good reason: As the largest government faction in Brandenburg, the SPD is significantly responsible for the fact that this project exists in the first place. During the last legislative period, the deportation center was already a project close to the heart of Katrin Lange (SPD), then State Secretary and now Minister of Finance.
The statement by Inka Gossmann-Reetz, the SPD’s spokeswoman on internal politics, left no doubt in the debate: the SPD backs the planned deportation center wholeheartedly. They stated “airport asylum procedures and deportations are a burden for all those involved” – a massive trivialization, because while refugees are torn from their lives in Germany, other “people involved” are simply putting a “normal” working day behind them. At the deportation center, however, Gossmann-Reetz says, procedures should take place under “the best possible conditions.” This proves that the SPD is nothing more than a “nice deportation party.” The Jusos Brandenburg alone have spoken out against the deportation center.
CDU:
That the CDU, in whose control the Ministry of the Interior lies, wants to push through the deportation center at all costs is well known. We were particularly surprised by the platitudes and clichés Björn Lakenmacher (CDU) had to throw around in the debate to legitimize his own position and devalue criticism: He complained about the “emotionality” and “ideology” of the critics in order to literally present himself as the master of ” factuality” and “objectivity”. To then simply reproduce the description of the project deportation center from the pen of the Ministry of the Interior – ideologically are always only the others. Garnish everything with the meaningless phrase of the “constitutional state capable of acting” and you have the talk of the CDU. According to Lakenmacher, one has to see the “advantages and improvements” of the project: the deportation center is supposed to bring “better conditions for those entering the country” and “shorter distances” for all involved. Humanitarian deportation is possible – the CDU and SPD obviously agree on this.
Pushing through a non-transparent deal with a corrupt investor in order to circumvent as many democratic ways as possible – that, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with (racist) ideology….
Freie Wähler:
The Freie Wähler were the only group to abstain during the vote on Die Linke’s motion and did not reject it. However, their doubts about the project mainly relate to the financial costs and the lack of transparency in the planning, which is why they had also demanded a qualified restriction on the item in the last Interior Committee (then the state parliament would have to deal with the finances again). They do not question the supposed necessity of the project: racist deportation policy is basically okay, but it should cost as little as possible. So one cannot expect much from this actor.
With their criticism of Bündnis 90/die Grünen, however, they do not seem to be completely off the mark. According to Matthias Stefke (BVB/FW), the Green Party should quit giving the impression to their supporters that they oppose the project when in reality they are not actually implementing any of it.
Bündnis 90/die Grünen:
Let us now turn to the party that, while publicly voicing its disapproval of the project over and over again, sides with its coalition partners, the CDU and SPD, and supports the deportation center when it comes to votes. Marie Schäffer, the interior politics spokeswoman for Bündnis 90/die Grünen, stated that her party had been critical of the project from the beginning and that they still saw “many unanswered questions.” She primarily focused on contract law issues and oversized capacities, with a reference to the asylum policy concerns of refugee organizations, churches, welfare associations and so-called welcome initiatives. Once again, Schäffer demanded a qualified restriction on the budget so that the state parliament would have to release the money (however, they had rejected a corresponding motion by the Freie Wähler in the interior committee on November 10). This demand had already been publicly rejected by the CDU last week.
These demands have come much too late. As Andrea Johlige (Linke) correctly noted, the Greens have made the deportation center itself a coalition issue by agreeing to the project in the coalition committee in November 2021 and most recently again a few weeks ago. According to Schäffer’s own statements, the Greens are “promoting” their position among coalition partners. Currently, coalition loyalty seems to outweigh doubts about the racist project. During the roll call vote, all members of
the Green Party barely audibly spoke their rejection of the motion to stop the construction of the deportation center.
At the state delegates’ conference of the Greens on 19.11., the party approved a joint motion of the state working group Democracy, Law and Anti-Fascism and the Green Youth. It states “We call on the state parliamentary group, the state executive and the Alliance-Green ministers* to use all parliamentary and political means at their disposal to campaign for an immediate halt to the plans and to cancel the budgeted funds in the draft budget.” In its vagueness, the motion remains toothless – but the Greens are of course welcome to teach us better.
Minister of the Interior Stübgen (CDU) also tried in his speech to give the deportation center a humanitarian veneer (“short distances”!) and emphasized that with the airport BER an “external Schengen border lies in the middle of Brandenburg”.
All in all, apart from the speech by Andrea Johlige (Left Party), few meaningful statements were made. One of the most important contributions came from activists, who lowered a banner from the gallery during the meeting, chanting “No deportation center! Ever heard of human rights? Shame on you!” through the plenary hall.
Even after the vote (result: Freie Wähler: Abstention, Linke: Approval, Coalition: Rejection) the fight against the deportation center is not lost. The Brandenburg parliament will take its final decision about the budget plan, which includes the budget for the deportation center, on December 14th. We stick to it: With us there will be no deportation center. Stay tuned for our next steps!
The speeches of the individual parties can be listened to here.