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Germany’s opposition leader Friedrich Merz has failed to push through a migration bill backed by the far right, capping a bruising week for the frontrunner to become chancellor in elections next month.
Merz, leader of the Christian Democrats, had sought to restrict immigration rules with the support of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The bill fell short by 12 votes on Friday. Twelve MPs from Merz’s parliamentary group were absent.
The setback came after Merz passed a non-binding motion on migration with AfD backing earlier this week, triggering large-scale condemnation. It was the first time in the country’s postwar history that a majority emerged in the Bundestag thanks to the far right.
With only three weeks to go before general elections, Merz’s parliamentary initiatives have sparked a fierce debate over the growing influence of the far right in Europe’s largest country.
On Thursday, former CDU chancellor Angela Merkel, a longtime party rival of Merz, condemned the moves as “wrong”. In a stinging rebuke, the country’s Catholic and Protestant churches warned against Merz’s measures and co-operating with the AfD. Thousands of protesters gathered in front of the CDU headquarters in Berlin.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens, led by economy minister Robert Habeck, rejected both initiatives, accusing Merz of breaking a taboo and endangering democracy by copying AfD policies.
During a heated three-hour debate on Friday, Merz, who has ruled out any formal alliance with the AfD, rejected accusations that his initiative would boost the far-right party. Instead, he insisted that he was seeking to contain its rise.
The AfD, which is predicted to secure a record 20 per cent of the votes on February 23, was “undermining the foundations of our democracy” and wanted to annihilate the CDU, he said, adding: “Do you seriously believe that we are reaching out to a party that wants to destroy us?”
Merz argued that it was important to adopt concrete measures following several deadly attacks carried out by asylum seekers in the past months.
“Do we agree that the flow of asylum seekers to the Federal Republic of Germany must be limited?” he asked. “To regain the respect of the majority of citizens, we must prove that we are able to make decisions in the political centre.”
His bill was also backed by the liberal FDP party and the far-left nationalist Sahra Wagenknecht alliance (BSW). It sought to restrict entry rules for refugees’ family members and to give more powers to law enforcement.
The bill was prompted by the killing of a toddler and an adult by an Afghan asylum seeker in Bavaria last week. It came a month after a Saudi refugee rammed through a Christmas market in Magdeburg and after a Syrian asylum seeker fatally stabbed three people in the town of Solingen in August.
“It will now be up to the next German Bundestag to introduce new laws,” Merz said after the vote, as the German assembly goes into pre-election recess as of next week.
The parliamentary setback has yet to be reflected in opinion polls. CDU this week was on track to win the February 23 elections by 30 per cent.
Surveys have shown that the proposals were backed by a majority of Germans. However, they also suggested that a large proportion of voters were worried about the AfD. About 80 per cent of them say the far-right party cannot be treated as a normal party, according to Forsa, a pollster.
On Friday, Rolf Mützenich, the leader of the SPD group in the Bundestag, conjured up the ill-fated Weimar Republic that preceded the Nazi regime.
“Weimar has failed due to the lack of unity on the part of the Democrats!” the veteran politician said. “You must rebuild the firewall. The firewall!”