The Local
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18 December 2018

Photo: DPA
Germany’s top court has rejected complaints by the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentary group against the government’s refugee policy.

The judges of the Second Senate rejected all three complaints put forward by the AfD unanimously as inadmissible, according to a decision published on Tuesday by the Federal Constitutional Court based in Karlsruhe.

The party faction failed to sufficiently demonstrate that the government’s decision to allow asylum seekers/refugees into the country had “violated or directly threatened” its rights, the judges ruled.

The complaints raised by the AfD are based on the decision by the German government, under Angela Merkel, to allow asylum seekers to enter Germany during the height of the refugee crisis in 2015. At the time there was a huge increase of people travelling along the ‘Balkan route’ trying to seek protection in Germany.

Merkel said the situation was a humanitarian emergency. The AfD is one of the biggest opponents of this decision.

In its complaints registered in April this year, the AfD parliamentary group had bemoaned that the Bundestag didn’t allow other parties to participate in the decision making process when it came to allowing for the entry of refugees. In doing so, stated the AfD, they had violated their so-called participation rights.

At that time, however, the AfD itself was not yet sitting in the Bundestag; the party only entered the government in 2017.

more:

https://www.thelocal.de/20181218/afd-fails-in-court-bid-against-merkels-refugee-policy