Keller-Sutter delays Baume-Schneider’s asylum plan

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The new asylum minister, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (59), gets involved: in order to defuse the critical situation in the asylum centers, she wants to set up container villages. Because the federal government expects up to 30,000 asylum applications for the current year. The federal and cantonal shelters are already bursting at the seams.

But her predecessor, Karin Keller-Sutter (59), thwarts her plans. On the proposal of Baume-Schneider, the Federal Council has requested CHF 132.9 million for the container villages. For the time being, however, only: the Bundesrat only wants a final agreement when it is clear that the cantons will contribute to the operating costs of the container settlements.

“Unacceptable”

But the cantons are against it. The Conference of Cantonal Social Directors (SODK) issued a harsh press release on Thursday: “This expectation is incomprehensible to the cantons,” it says. And further: “The condition of co-financing is not acceptable.”

As the “Tages-Anzeiger” reports, Baume-Schneider had not even applied for co-financing – it was submitted by Finance Minister Keller-Sutter. This coincides with information from Blick.

Keller-Sutter as a strict bag master

On the one hand, Keller-Sutter has good reasons for this. While the federal government is running billions of dollars in deficits and is already embarking on an austerity program, the cantons are doing extremely well financially – most of them have been in the black lately, some even posting record surpluses.

On the other hand, as a former minister of migration, she knows the asylum law all too well. And it says – which the SODK also points out – that the federal government is “responsible for the initial reception of people from the asylum area” and that the centers are managed by the Secretariat of State for Migration (SEM). In addition, the container villages would probably have to be established on military lands – this, too, is the responsibility of the federal government.

Zwarte Piet for Baume-Schneider

Given the strong resistance, the state of the Federal Council is likely to delay or even fail the construction of the container villages. Baume-Schneider was awarded the prize twice.

First she now has to negotiate with angry cantons. Second, if it fails and there aren’t enough refugee shelters available in the fall, she’ll be charged with “asylum chaos.”

Source:Blick