Sputnik: Could you share your thoughts about this film released on the children’s channel about an underage girl and a mature Syrian refugee? What was its aim in your view?

Dirk Spaniel: When I saw the movie for the first time, I was really shocked. This movie should not be published on a children’s channel because it downsizes the consequences of the relationship from a young Muslim to a young girl. So, the movie demonstrates that many Muslim men share other cultural values and traditions. This is clear for an adult watcher, but not for people under the age of 12. To give you an example, I was sitting in front of the TV with my 11-year-old daughter, and it hit me like a hurricane, this movie.

Sputnik: Well, I can imagine this. It is very surprising that this film was allowed to be aired on German TV. What consequences will it have for the youth and German society in general? And what are the main risks posed by promoting practices like child marriage in Germany?

Dirk Spaniel: I see many risks in movies like this. We shouldn’t educate our children that child marriage is something acceptable. The opposite is true. Child marriage stands in opposition to the rights of women and the rights of our enlightened democracy. People that come to Germany and to Europe must accept our rules. The public press has therefore to protect our rules and cultural values. My concern is that some part of the German public tries to promote an incorrect understanding of diversity.

Sputnik: What is your feeling about the effectiveness of compulsory medical testsand what problems can it solve in Germany?

Dirk Spaniel: Well, we do have to get the age of those people. They do come to Germany and they fake their real age because they want to get these special social benefits from our welfare system for young people. Later on it’s easier for young people that have come to Germany to bring their family along. So they have a reason to do that, and we underestimated the amount of young people not saying the truth or not so young people saying that they are younger. This is a real problem, it has turned out to be a problem. But when you look at it from a higher perspective you can see it was foreseeable. So about 8o percent of the people that come to Germany don’t have their passports with them. So they give just some age; this is convenient for them, and this is mostly ages under 18.

Sputnik: Well, it’s a very difficult situation. Germany was very generous in allowing so many immigrants passage into Germany a couple of years ago after Angela Merkel’s policy. How effective will therefore compulsory medical age tests be in your view? What problems can they solve?

Dirk Spaniel: Meanwhile, it has popped into the heads of most of the decision makers in Germany that this is necessary. And I think, with a little time most parties in Germany will accept that those tests will be the only measure to protect our social system from being exploited by too many fake young people. So this is I think more and more politicians get a realistic view on this. I’m sure we will get these tests somewhere in the next two years or sooner.

Sputnik: What is the current situation with regard to attitudes about the asylum seekers now?

Dirk Spaniel: People are slowly changing their view. People get a more and more realistic view. Not all of it is like they were told in the beginning when it was said that there were people in need, refugees. So we see that the people that come there often do not come for asylum. They come here for economic reasons. This is more and more getting to the public. And therefore people are slowly changing their view. However, there are many, many people in Germany that still believe this was a good idea to get these people here. And [me] personally and our party we cannot understand that due to the media, which is very slowly changing their view.

Sputnik: What’s your feeling about Europe coping with this massive influx of migrants that has happened over the last few years?

Dirk Spaniel: Angela Merkel divided Europe with her dealing of the refugee crisis. In Germany and in Europe people are accepting that we are not able to protect our borders and we have to limit the illegal inflow. I think Europe will break apart, because other member states will protect their borders independently if we do not close our borders. The influence and long-term effects will be that our social system and our society, which depends on security and safety for the individuals in Germany and Europe will just be blown away, because those people, they do not accept our understanding of rules. So in the long term this will for sure destroy our system in Europe.

Sputnik: What will be the best solution to end the migration crisis, in your point of view, and how should Europe deal with migrants who are already living there?

Dirk Spaniel: First of all, we definitely have to close our borders. It’s necessary to have those people in their local countries in order to release reasons for migration. And then we have to be honest: we cannot handle huge numbers of asylum seekers for what reason ever. It’s simply not possible. Our society will not accept it. And our social system cannot afford it. So we can temporarily take care of those in greatest need and the rest we have to send home. And we have to be honest. We have to tell them at the border: You are here for a limited time and then you have to go home. I think this is the only way we can solve this peacefully.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.