Germany: Angela Merkel Criticises Friedrich Merz for Tolerating Support from AfD
Angela Merkel. X/ @AlGallert
January 30, 2025 Hour: 9:07 am
On Wednesday, far-right votes facilitated the approval of a parliamentary motion to close the borders to asylum seekers.
On Thursday, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized the leader and chancellor candidate of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, for securing the approval of a motion on migration policy with the support of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
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“I think it is wrong to no longer feel bound by this proposal and thereby knowingly allow a majority with the votes of the AfD in a vote in the German Bundestag on January 29, 2025 for the first time,” she said.
“Instead, it is necessary for all democratic parties to work together across party political boundaries, not as a tactical maneuver, but honestly in the matter, moderate in tone and on the basis of applicable European law, to do everything they can to prevent such terrible attacks in the future as those that took place shortly before Christmas in Magdeburg and a few days ago in Aschaffenburg,” Merkel added.
On Wednesday, the Lower House (Bundestag) approved a non-binding motion to close the borders to asylum seekers. The motion was proposed by the parliamentary group formed by the CDU and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) and was passed with AfD votes.
The CDU-CSU motion was submitted to parliament in response to an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, where a Saudi refugee carried out a rampage, leaving six people dead and more than 200 injured. It was also passed in the context of the outrage created by the attack in Aschaffenburg, where an Afghan asylum seeker stabbed two people to death, one of whom was a child.
Ahead of the early general elections on February 23, the Christian Democrats lead the latest voting intention polls, with up to 30% support from the electorate, ahead of AfD, which polls indicate has up to 23% support. In those surveys, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, would obtain between 15% and 16%, while the Greens are polling between 12.5% and 14%.
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP)—which also contributed to the approval of the CDU/CSU motion—could slightly surpass the 5% threshold required for parliamentary representation or fall just short of achieving that percentage.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
