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COVID-19

German Chancellor Scholz tests positive for Covid after Gulf tour

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has tested positive for the coronavirus and is displaying mild symptoms after returning from a tour of the Gulf, his spokesman said Monday.

Published: 26 September 2022 12:51 CEST
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) visits Abu Dhabi.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) visits Abu Dhabi. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld

The 64-year-old Social Democrat is isolating in his apartment in the chancellery, and will attend meetings online, spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

At the weekend, he visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar on a hunt for new energy sources after Russia cut gas supplies amid tensions over the Ukraine war.

He signed a deal Sunday for the UAE to supply natural gas and diesel to Germany.

READ ALSO: UAE to supply Germany with gas and diesel 

Meanwhile Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, also of the SPD, announced via Twitter on Monday that she had tested positive for Covid.

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IMMIGRATION

Scholz pledges to keep ‘strict controls’ on Germany’s borders

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has promised to fight 'irregular migration' by keeping stringent controls in place at several of Germany's borders.

Published: 26 July 2024 14:13 CEST
Scholz pledges to keep 'strict controls' on Germany's borders

“In general, it is our intention to continue to strictly control the German borders,” the SPD politician told the Saarbrücker Zeitung this week. He added that the numbers need to come down.

The Chancellor said labour migration was necessary and desirable. “But there are too many who come to us irregularly and claim to be seeking protection from persecution, but cannot give any reasons for asylum and are then rejected,” Scholz added.

Existing border controls, such as at checks at the border with France during the Olympic Games, will continue to apply until September 30th.

“It is our intention to continue to operate strict controls on the German borders,” Scholz said. 

At the land borders with Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland, there have been stationary check points for some time. They are planned to remain until December 15th for Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Poland, and until November 11th for Austria.

Border controls were tightened leading up to the EURO 2024 tournament, which took place in Germany from June 14th to July 14th.

At the time, Interior Ministry Nancy Faeser (SPD) said checks would be carried out at all of Germany’s nine borders, with a focus on combatting security threats such as Islamist extremism. 

According to the German Federal Police, more than 1.6 million people were checked when crossing the border during the tournament, and a total of 9,172 unauthorised entries were detected. Of these unauthorised entries, 6,401 people were turned back. 

Scholz said the number of irregular migrants being returned to their home countries had increased by 30 percent in light of the new border measures, adding that the government has taken “practical” action to restrict irregular migration.

Alongside tighter border controls, the government has also taken steps to speed up the asylum process in order to determine which migrants have a valid claim.

Deportation debate intensified by recent events

Discussions over deportations escalated in Germany after a 25-year-old Afghan went on a knife rampage at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim back in May. 

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

A police officer, 29, died of his wounds after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack, while five attendees at the Pax Europa rally were injured.

clean-up in Mannheim

Members of the fire brigade clean away the blood at the scene where several people were injured in a knife attack on May 31, in Mannheim.
Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

The deadly attack sparked a furious debate over whether criminals should be returned to places like Afghanistan and Syria, even if those countries were deemed unsafe.

Scholz, who has previously voiced his support for deporting dangerous criminals to their home countries, said the government was currently working on ways to do so.

“Are we allowed to choose who comes to Germany? Yes,” the SPD politician said at the summer press conference in Berlin on Wednesday.

The Federal Government is working “very precisely” on deporting “offenders in particular” to Syria and Afghanistan, he added. 

A court in Münster recently concluded that parts of Syria were now safe for migrants to be returned to, potentially upending Germany’s long-standing asylum policy for citizens of the war-torn country. 

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