Safe versus Unsafe

For those who didn't know....there are two 'houses' of government in Germany.  The Bundestag is the 'unit' that gets mentioned the most and often covered on TV. 

The Bundesrat is the second 'unit'.  You could refer to them as the Federal Council.  They are put there to represent the states themselves (16 of them).  In some ways, you could compare it to the US Senate, although they rarely get real publicity or public forum time.

Today, they came up in the news because the government (Chancellor Merkel and the coalition)....wanted to redraw the 'safe' countries. If you attempted to claim asylum from the safe countries list, based on war or civil conflict.....Germany has a higher acceptance rate.  So Germany was going to put Georgia, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco on the safe list.  The Bundestag passed the change with no problem.  But over in the Bundesrat.....there's a fair number of seats controlled by the Green Party.....who apparently will vote 'no' on this safe country change.

It is a sort of comical game being played out.  If you go over to the TUI-vacation site, you can readily book a week or two at some Moroccan or Tunisian five star hotel.  In the midst of summer, there's probably a minimum of one plane per day flying to either country with German tourists....seeking sun and fun.  They will party it up for a full week or two.  So suggesting that either of those two countries are 'dangerous' or unsafe?  It's a joke.

Algeria?  There's zero German tourism, and folks might agree on the dangerous category. 

Georgia?  It's not typically a vacation spot or Germans.  Last year, I watched some travel documentary piece off German TV that featured Georgia, and and they made it into some enchanted 'wonderland' for tourism.  Out of the Frankfurt airport, there's at least one plane every day that takes off to Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia). 

This argument over making the switch on countries from unsafe to safe?  It's more or less a joke.  Using these standards, some Germans ought to inspect Chicago, and declare it unsafe.....allowing Chicago folks to claim asylum in Germany.