Göppingen – ESI at Panel Debate in European migration policy with Boris Palmer

Gerald Knaus (ESI) speaking on migration policy with Boris Palmer, Mayor of Tübingen. Photo: KEB Göppingen

ESI's Gerald Knaus took part in the public panel discussion "The Blue Couch" organised by the Centres for Adult Education of the Catholic and Protestant Churches of the Swabian town of Göppingen together with Boris Palmer (The Greens), Mayor of Tübingen and known across Germany for his critical stance on immigration.  

The two discussants intensely debated migration policy with a broad cross section of the German public, from Greens to AfD, from those concerned about sea rescues to those who worry about the impact of the UN migration compact. Gerald argued that we urgently need a humane and implementable migration policy in Lesvos, Spain and for sea rescues in the Mediterranean.

The following day, Gerald and ESI junior fellow Friedrich Püttmann met with Florian Stegmann, State Secretary of Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann, and his advisory team at the State Chancellery in Stuttgart. Gerald and Friedrich gathered information on the biggest challenges in migration policy the government of Baden-Württemberg currently faces and presented ESI’s proposals on the matter.

• Südwest Presse, Susann Schönfelder, "Palmer plädiert für rationalere Diskussion" ("Palmer argues for a more rational debate") (15 November 2018)
• Refugees Deeply, John Dalhuisen Gerald Knaus, How Italy Can Combine Migration Control With Human Rights (13 March 2018)
• ESI paper: "Amsterdam in the Mediterranean" – How a Dutch-style asylum system can help resolve the Mediterranean refugee crisis (26 January 2018) – ​also available in Italian: "Amsterdam nel Mediterraneo"
• ESI proposals for the refugee crises in the Central Mediterranean and the Aegean: www.esiweb.org/refugees

Gerald Knaus and Friedrich Püttmann at the state chancellery of Baden-Württemberg. Photo: ESI