Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer calls for significant reduction in number of refugees

Kretschmer referred to the recent decisions of the Conference of Minister Presidents and to the next meeting of the heads of the federal states on Nov. 6. By the end of the year, a "toolbox" must be available, said Saxony's head of government. "To reduce the number of illegal migrants so that this also works again. With the kindergartens, with the schools, with the German courses, with the apartments."

Instrument box by the end of the year

Generally, one must ask oneself what has gone wrong with integration in recent years and decades, Kretschmer said. The CDU/CSU has been berated for saying "multiculturalism" has failed, he said. "But that is exactly the point." Germany wants to be a country of immigration and needs people from other cultures to enrich the country, he said. But these would have to adapt. "We have to enforce our values, our understanding of freedom, of democracy and equal rights."

The state must react to demonstrations that are ready for violence with the severity of the rule of law, Kretschmer said, referring to the attempted arson attack on a synagogue in Berlin and sometimes violent riots. Despite a ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, there had been hours of clashes in Berlin-Neukölln on Wednesday evening. There is freedom of expression and freedom to demonstrate, Kretschmer stressed. But where human lives, health or even property are in danger, the state must react,