GERMANY: Pressure continues to grow on the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, as fresh allegations emerged about widespread abuse of the tourist visa system.
Mr Fischer declined to comment yesterday on media reports that he knew as early as 2003 that new visa rules introduced three years earlier had opened German borders to illegal immigrants and human traffickers. He appeared to suggest on Monday that he only learned of problems with the new visa rules last year.
Yesterday his spokesman said the Foreign Minister tightened up the visa guidelines in 2003 after hearing of problems, but only became aware of the details last year.
"I have the impression one's words are being twisted," said Mr Fischer yesterday.
Today a parliamentary inquiry will start investigating the matter, including allegations by Der Spiegel magazine that gangs of human traffickers, particularly in Ukraine, took advantage of the new rules as soon as they were introduced in May, 2000.
The new rules stated that if any problems arose during tourist visa applications, embassy officials were to decide "in favour of the freedom to travel".
Under the new rules, checks on the purpose of the visit or return dates of tourists were deemed unnecessary, as long as applicants possessed a "carte de touriste" - a type of insurance package that covers the costs that may occur during a visit, such as hospital treatment or deportation.
The new procedures also reduced the checks on the financial situation of German citizens named as host and financial guarantor of the visitor. Der Spiegel alleges huge numbers of unemployed people were paid by gangs to pose as guarantor.
The German embassy in Kiev reported as early as February, 2002, that it was "overrun" after the number of visa applications doubled to almost 300,000 annually in the space of two years.
Der Spiegel suggested that the new visa rules were devised by senior Green Party officials in the Foreign Ministry who "find it difficult to distinguish between liberal-mindedness and naive multicultural folklore".
The opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) are clearly enjoying the discomfort of Mr Fischer, the most prominent politician in the Green Party and Germany's most popular politician for the last six years.
The CDU sees the visa affair as its best chance in months to damage the Green Party's coalition with the Social Democrats.
CDU members of the visa inquiry hope a slow drip of new information will be damaging enough to make Chancellor Schröder reconsider his publicly professed support for Mr Fischer. The chancellor's loyalty is already divided. His trusted interior minister, Mr Otto Schily, complained about the new rules almost as soon as they were introduced in 2000. He demanded that Mr Fischer start a full investigation into the affair last July. The visa rules were tightened three months later.