The already heated debate on immigration policy has gained further momentum ahead of the German re-election on February 23, following several violent crimes in the country. Since the knife attack in Aschaffenburg recently, the issue has become even more central. A two-year-old boy and an adult man were killed by an Afghan asylum seeker.
The Christian Democratic CDU, led by Friedrich Merz, is leading the opinion polls ahead of the election and wants to put pressure on the governing parties. However, the fact that CDU received support from the nationalist AfD during Wednesday's vote in the Bundestag has been met with sharp criticism, and is seen by some as a breach of a broad political consensus to keep a distance from the far-right.
"Not unimportant"
Despite opposition from human rights organizations and churches, Merz says he will take all the support he can get, reports AFP. His tactic is being criticized, among others, by party colleague and former Chancellor Angela Merkel. The incumbent Chancellor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, says he does not trust Merz to refrain from including AfD in a potential future government.
It is not unimportant how one works with the extreme right – not in Germany, said the Chancellor on Wednesday, reports AP.
The motion from the Christian Democratic opposition CDU/CSU that was passed on Wednesday is not binding, but it calls on the government to introduce permanent border controls and deport all those who attempt to enter the country illegally, including asylum seekers.
On Friday, the Bundestag will take up another motion, this time binding, which concerns less drastic changes to the immigration rules. This motion also comes from Merz's Christian Democratic Union and can be approved with support from AfD.
New vote
If Merz becomes Germany's next Chancellor, he intends to order the Interior Ministry to introduce permanent border controls and deport all those who attempt to enter the country illegally "without exception", including asylum seekers.
We are simply obligated to the people in our country, and not least the victims of the recent violent crimes, to really do everything now to limit illegal migration, he said on Wednesday, reports AP.
Support for AfD is around 20 percent, while CDU/CSU has around 30 percent support. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party SPD has around 17 percent support.
The German government collapsed in early November 2024, after Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) was fired. But the governing coalition with the Social Democratic SPD, the Greens, and the liberal FDP had been struggling internally for a long time. The triggering factor was a conflict over the budget.
The three coalition parties have been struggling in the opinion polls, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz from SPD has historically low confidence ratings.
A confidence vote was held in the Bundestag in Berlin on December 16, following an agreement between SPD, the Greens, the Christian Democratic CDU, and its Bavarian sister party CSU.
Olaf Scholz lost the confidence vote as expected. As a result, new elections will be held on February 23.
