For those who aren't aware of Germany's form of government.....between Chancellor Merkel, and the Bundstag, and the sixteen German states.....there is the Bundesrat (basically the Federal Council, or comparable to the US Senate).
The Bundesrat is designed in a different manner....they represent the states (16) themselves. Each state, based on population is allowed x-number of representatives. For example....Lower Saxony, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and NRW....have six members each. The Saarland, Hamburg, and Bremen have three members each.
There are no public elections for the Bundesrat....it's a formation of whatever government each state has leading it, and there is an agreement with coalition parties of that government to numbers of seats they will get.
This morning, it came up in the news....via ARD (public TV, Channel One).
The Bundestag (with Chancellor Merkel) would like to move forward today and declare that the countries of Tunisia, Georgia, Algeria, and Morocco....are safe.
If they were agreed upon by the Bundesrat, then BamF organization (they handle deportation paperwork) and the sixteen states would have to move and deport individuals 'easily' back to their home-countries.
Curiously, the Greens hold a number of seats in the Bundesrat, and they've said in a blunt way....no, these countries are not safe, so therefore, you can't deport people back to these countries.
Without the state votes, this measure won't pass.
It's a mixed bag of discussion topics. As long as these countries are deemed 'dangerous'.....people can get temporary refuge in Germany. Oddly, thousands of Germans on a monthly basis go off on vacation trips to Morocco and Tunisia. They lay out on Tunisian beaches, and shop in public shops of Morocco. It's less so for Georgia, but there are probably two dozen flights a day (some direct....some with a hub connection). You have to figure that at least 300 Germans a week are making the trip there, with the idea it's a fairly safe place to go. Algeria? It might be a valid case, but you just rarely ever hear anything brought up by the news media.
My general feeling....if you want to say it's dangerous there for in-country folks.....you might want to say it's TOO dangerous there for Germans to make a tourist vacation there. That would be the logical idea.
The Greens in this case? I think they are drawing public attention, and those who worry about lack of deportation....see the Green Party as a problem.
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