Studio Berlin, broadcast Sept. 23, 2020: Can Europe reform its asylum and migration policies?

Two weeks after a fire destroyed the overcrowded refugee camp Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos, asylum policy is high on the EU Commission’s agenda.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition agreed to take in 1,500 additional refugees from Greece — mostly families with children — a decision hotly debated by the opposition in the German Bundestag, as well as civil society. Some critics say the number’s not nearly enough, while others say it’s time for other EU member states to step up.

Host Sylvia Cunningham discusses the current situation on the Greek island of Lesbos and the German aid efforts with NPR correspondent Joanna Kakissis, and Florian Gathmann from the German magazine, Der Spiegel.

We also hear the perspective from politicians from three of Germany’s opposition parties: Gregor Gysi, foreign policy speaker for die Linke (Germany’s Left Party); Luise Amtsberg, deputy member of the Commission on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid from the Green Party; and Nicolaus Fest, a member of the European Parliament from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. And we talk with Miriam Tödter from the Brandenburg-based nonprofit “Wir packen’s an.”

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham. Voiceover by Caleb Larson.