Fierce debate

CDU calls for migration to be stopped after knife attack

The German town of Aschaffenburg is in a state of emergency.

(Bild: AFP/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)

The opposition CDU/CSU wants to achieve a radical turnaround in asylum and security policy with two motions in the German Bundestag next week. A majority is considered unlikely - but the plan is nevertheless causing a stir.

Both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Green Party candidate for chancellor Robert Habeck warned at the weekend that CDU leader Friedrich Merz wanted to tear down the "firewall" of cooperation with the AfD. At the Green Party conference, Habeck accused the CDU/CSU of drifting ever further to the right.

Borders should be closed
Following the fatal knife attack in Aschaffenburg, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group wants to introduce a migration motion in the Bundestag calling for national law to take precedence over European law due to an "extraordinary emergency".

The German borders should be "permanently controlled", according to the motion submitted to Reuters. There should be a de facto entry ban for all persons who do not have valid entry documents and who are not covered by European freedom of movement - regardless of a request for protection such as an asylum application.

"People who are required to leave the country must no longer be at large. They must be taken into custody immediately," it says thirdly. Corresponding detention places in the federal states should be increased "significantly". In addition, the federal government should "make all available properties, including empty barracks and container buildings, available as quickly as possible".

Authorities should network better
Coordination should also take place on a daily basis. The federal police should also be given the authority to "immediately" apply for arrest warrants for detention pending deportation or custody to leave the country in the case of people apprehended who are required to leave the country, the Union also demands.

Fifthly, the right of residence for criminals and dangerous persons is to be tightened so that criminals and dangerous persons who are obliged to leave the country are to remain in an indefinite detention pending deportation or voluntary departure to their home countries. Unlike the CDU/CSU, the governing parties SPD and Greens consider a number of points to be unconstitutional and contrary to EU law. A second motion calls for a series of tighter security policies.

A majority is considered unlikely
A majority in the Bundestag is considered unlikely because the motions explicitly blame the SPD, Greens and FDP for the migration policy of recent years. This is likely to make it impossible for the centrist parties to vote in favor unless the motions are amended.

The knife attack in Aschaffenburg is politically charged.

(Bild: AFP/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)

The AfD, BSW and FDP had initially signaled their approval. However, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group has now included a passage critical of the AfD to prevent the right-wing populists in the Bundestag from voting in favor. There would be a majority if the CDU/CSU, AfD, BSW and FDP voted together. However, a two-thirds majority would be required in the Bundestag so that the motions could be voted on immediately in the second and third readings before the Bundestag elections.

Scholz wants "Dublin Center"
The SPD is also planning to table motions calling on the CDU/CSU to agree to stricter security rules that it has previously rejected and to the national implementation of the European asylum reform. Scholz said in Wiesbaden that so-called "Dublin Centers" could be introduced. These are central accommodation facilities for refugees whose asylum applications have to be processed in other EU states.

They would then not be distributed among the municipalities. This would have applied to the Afghan attacker in Aschaffenburg, for example, who killed a child and a man.

Parties express massive concerns
On the one hand, Merz has emphasized that he does not want to work with the AfD. On the other hand, he has emphasized in recent days: "I don't care at all who goes down this path politically." This triggered fierce criticism from the SPD, the Greens and the Left. "We will not defeat populism by adapting it," criticized Habeck.

At an SPD election event in Wiesbaden, Chancellor Scholz accused Merz of inciting civil servants to break the law. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel also said that the firewall had come down.

The CDU leader rejected the accusations of a collapse of the firewall against the AfD and emphasized at an election event in Künzelsau, Baden-Württemberg: "I will not hold any talks with this party about any kind of cooperation."

Kickl also gets involved
FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl also had his say in the debate on Sunday. "Is Mr Merz now also a right-wing extremist and an enemy of the EU?" asked Kickl in a press release. "Is he simply lying before the election or is he serious about his FPÖ position?" He sees clear parallels: "Keyword 'quota zero', keyword exit centers."