Friedrich Merz, the country’s favourite to become next chancellor, will bring his proposals to parliament even if it means collecting support from the AfD.
The leader of Germany’s largest opposition party, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to bring immediate changes to the country’s asylum law before parliament — even if it means collecting votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Merz, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate for chancellor in the upcoming election, has been accused of backtracking on his position of not working with the far-right party and breaking the so-called “firewall” against it to pass the measures.
His plan would overhaul the asylum law and dramatically increase the number of deportations from the country.
Among other measures, he has proposed immediate permanent control of Germany’s borders as well as turning away all attempts at irregular entry to the country — a measure opposition parties have warned is incompatible with European asylum laws.
Merz hardened his position following a knife attack in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last week, where two people were killed by an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who was scheduled to be deported.
The attack has put domestic security and immigration into the spotlight as the country gears up for federal elections on 23 February.
The law change is scheduled to have its first reading on Wednesday afternoon. If successful, the CDU would push for a decision on the law passing through parliament as soon as this week.
As Merz and his party need a two-thirds majority to get the law changed through parliament, he has left open the possibility of all interested parties pushing it through, the AfD included.
This has sparked criticism from all parts of the political spectrum, including a warning from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last Friday that “the firewall against the AfD must not crumble”.
In addition, both the Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany have weighed in on the controversy, issuing a rare joint statement on Wednesday in which they warned that leaning on votes from the AfD could cause “massive damage to German democracy.”
Merz has sought to temper criticism that he is working with the far right, insisting that he is looking for “other majorities in parliament” and that he hoped Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens would “come to their senses”.
The SPD dismissed his proposals as incompatible with European laws, while Greens Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock accused Merz of wanting to “break European law and build a fence around Germany.”
The AfD’s co-leader Tino Chrupalla told the domestic press on Wednesday that his party would support Merz’s migration plan since it aligns with the AfD’s hardline stance on immigration.
Merz is also expected to gain support from the liberal Free Democratic Party and the left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), as both have signalled they would back his proposal.
The parliament is also set to vote on additional changes to migration rules proposed by the CDU on Friday. If approved, these would be legally binding.
