Zoff in the ‘Arena’ asylum: ‘I would be ashamed if I lied so much in a program’

The two Chinese Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin fought a ping-pong battle at the highest level in the World Cup finals in May this year. Zhendong won 4-2 sets and became world champion for the second time after 2021.

A ping-pong duel also took place in Studio 8 of Swiss television on Friday evening. Opposite were Green National Councilor Sibel Arslan and SVP National Councilor Benjamin Fischer. Instead of balls, words flew, instead of holding bats the two protagonists mainly used their hands to wave angrily in the air while expressing their voices.

Even local political greats like Hermann, Longchamp or Vatter would probably not have been able to choose a winner, but the debate, which was characterized by completely opposing views, was certainly exciting.

But first and foremost: in a trimester marked by elections for the Federal Parliament and the Federal Council, those responsible for ‘Arena’ probably wanted to adjust the quota one last time. And so – a few days before all kinds of pieces of meat are dipped into stock pots in Swiss salons – it was about Swiss asylum policy.

Guests in the “Arena” shelter were:

How should our asylum policy be shaped? The invited experts had to discuss this. For Sibel Arslan of the Greens, the matter was clear: “As the richest country in Switzerland, we have the obligation and the opportunity to continue to cultivate the humanitarian tradition.” However, Switzerland is a country of cherry pickers. We want to include immigrants who belong and are useful; Switzerland doesn’t want to look at anyone else.

Arslan was seconded by Pastor Andreas Nufer. With regard to refugees, the theologian praised the solidarity behavior of a large part of the Swiss population, the many active institutions and the functioning legal system.

However, Nufer is also critical: “The asylum law is constantly being tightened. I have been a pastor for 30 years, the subject is no longer discussed objectively, but with many emotions that I do not understand why it is necessary. We in pastoral care see people’s concerns and they can be resolved.”

The other side assessed the situation in the asylum system in a diametrically different way. Neo-National councilor and security politician Reto Nause also emphasized Switzerland’s lived humanitarian tradition, for example in the case of refugees from Ukraine or Afghanistan.

But there are also problems. “There are people coming from North Africa who have little chance of asylum and who commit crimes. In individual cases, we must ensure that procedures are significantly accelerated and that we consistently deport those who commit crimes.”

SVP national councilor Benjamin Fischer was even more specific. He also mentioned immigrants from North Africa, the problems can be identified, but unfortunately they do not want to be solved. “In Thurgau we had 250 burglaries three years ago, now there are more than a thousand. 90 percent of the perpetrators are people from the Maghreb.”

Moreover, people emigrated who did not accept Swiss values ​​and culture. He looks with great concern at Germany and France, where demonstrations took place after Hamas’s attack on Israel and “entire groups of Muslim immigrants are demanding a caliphate in Germany.”

“Migration policies in these countries have failed, I don’t want us to have German or French conditions in Switzerland anytime soon,” Fischer continued.

This marked the front lines in the SRF studio. The longer the broadcast lasted, the more the debate degenerated into an SVP-Green duel. The dialogue between Fischer and Arslan reached its climax for the first time after half an hour.

Fischer chafed at Switzerland’s lax deportation practice supported by the Greens, saying there are “almost no deportations taking place.” Arslan responded that the SVP “wanted to lock up or deport everyone, preferably anything with a foreign sign.”

The second act of the private duel between Fischer and Arslan follows after just over 45 minutes. The stumbling block is the UN resettlement program, which Switzerland has joined despite a current halt. Switzerland therefore supports the so-called first refugee states by taking in a certain number of refugees who primarily need protection.

Fischer and the SVP do not want to discuss resettlement again until the current asylum law is introduced. This year, around 30,000 people are expected to apply for asylum in Switzerland, too many for Fischer; There is no room for these people anymore. Arslan responded that the SVP was generally against the resettlement program, regardless of asylum claims. “I would be a bit ashamed if, as a politician, I were to lie so much during a show,” she accuses Fischer.

The tone became louder for the third time when the asylum practice in Afghanistan was discussed. Due to a change in the State Secretariat for Migration, Afghan women and girls are generally granted asylum and are not only admitted temporarily. SVP National Councilor Gregor Rutz wanted to undo this practice with a motion, but Parliament sent it back to the committee this week at the request of Center President Gerhard Pfister.

Benjamin Fischer fears that Afghan women will follow their husbands. Moreover, many Afghan refugees were not in Afghanistan at all, but in a third country. “There are currently about ten million people fleeing Afghanistan. We cannot accommodate all of these ten million in any given country.”

Sibel Arslan accused her opponent of throwing numbers. “You can’t work like that, people have the right to honest and correct figures.”

So it happened that two of the four guests in particular formed the ‘arena’ of the shelter at the end of the year. The other two, Center National Councilor Reto Nause and Pastor Andreas Nufer, were almost overlooked. The calm and objective nature of theologian Nufer – the only non-politician in the group – was particularly useful for the program.

The pre-Christmas harmony only came when presenter Sandro Brotz asked his guests at the end of the show to decorate the Christmas tree in the studio with their souvenirs. Benjamin Fischer had a glitter star made by his son. Reto Nause appeared with a heart-shaped Christmas bauble.