North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wurttemberg and Schleswig-Holstein are demanding a tougher migration policy from the governing coalition.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Greens in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Baden-Wurttemberg and Schleswig-Holstein share a common approach to refugee and immigration policy. The governments of the three states tabled motions for two resolutions in the Bundesrat on Friday in favour of tougher action against illegal migration.

„This could now be a bridge that needs to be crossed quickly,”

Hendrik Wust, prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, addressing the federal government and the parliamentary group of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Liberals (FDP). The aim is to tackle the problem of illegal migration from the political centre.

In the motions, the three Lander call for further measures such as accelerated asylum procedures for applicants from countries of origin recognized as having less than five per cent, asylum procedures conducted at the EU’s external borders and the accelerated transfer of so-called Dublin cases to other EU countries.

They also say criminals from Afghanistan and Syria should be deported without delay, using any and all necessary means.

But the federal government is reluctant to take such measures, mainly because of the pro-immigration ideology of the Greens and the liberal FDP. NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wust on Thursday called for „an alliance of the centre” to „not merely limit illegal migration, but to put an end to it with more decisive measures”. Migration and security are key to maintaining people’s fundamental trust in Germany.