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CONFIDENTIAL
muite (me. Mr Muuro), for
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HOME SECRETARY'S VISIT TO BONN, 14 SEPTEMBER
the attic
ASYLUM SEEKERS
6 November.
GB Rand
WRL 020/a
WFul
23
ержан
1. The influx into the FRG and Berlin of Third World asylum seekers
expecially Damans
(mainly from the Middle East has increased sharply since 1984: some 74,000 in 1985; nearly 67,000 already in the first eight months of
this year.
The FRG's liberal asylum laws guarantee that anyone claiming political asylum is allowed to stay while the case is heard, which can take years. In practice, few arrivals are sent back. Asylum seekers are an increasing economic and social burden
The and have become a major domestic political issue in the FRG.
But CSU (Zimmermann's party) favour a change in the constitution. it is doubtful if the Government could get the necessary two-thirds majority for such a change (which the SPD and FDP oppose). Chancellor Kohl has carefully avoided committing himself to such a change - at least before the Bundestag elections in January 1987.
2.
Over
The main entry point for asylum seekers is West Berlin. 50% come that way, arriving at the GDR airport Schönefeld outside East Berlin and exploiting (with GDR and Soviet connivance) the lack of controls at the Western side of the Berlin Sector Boundary to
Most are brought by cross into West Berlin from East Berlin.
Aeroflot or the GDR airline Interflug. The Berlin Allies have spoken to the Russians, but cannot introduce controls at the Berlin Sector Boundary without undermining the Allied position, fundamental to the status of Berlin, that East Berlin (the Soviet sector) is not part of the GDR, and that the Sector Boundary is therefore not a
state frontier.
from 1 October 3. On 18 September the GDR announced that they would issue transit visas only to persons with a visa for their subsequent destination. The West Germans are confident that the new GDR regulations will in practice apply also to West Berlin, thereby stemming the flow of refugees through the city. The GDR announcement followed discreet bilateral talks with the FRG. The FRG had made it clear that the asylum seekers problem might affect adversely other aspects of inner-German relations (including cooperation on issues of benefit to the GDR). The Twelve had also (at West German request) earlier made demarches to the GDR and the Soviet Union on 15 and 18
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