Berlin, Jan 29 (EFE).- Germany’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday for the first time approved a non-binding motion by the conservative opposition to close borders to asylum seekers, relying on the votes of the far-right, which has historically been kept in check in the past because of its stance on immigration.
The motion was passed after last week’s knife attack by an Afghan man with psychiatric problems, which turned the German election campaign on its head.
348 MPs voted in favor of the text proposed by the Bavarian Christian Democratic Union (CDU-CSU) at the behest of its designated candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz, 345 voted against, and 10 abstained.
The resolution calls for permanent border controls and the permanent rejection of undocumented migrants without exception, even if they express their intention to apply for asylum.
It also calls for the indefinite detention of people pending deportation, among other measures.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and their environmentalist allies (The Greens) no longer have a parliamentary majority and could not block the motion after losing their liberal coalition partners in November, who supported the conservatives, as did the left-populist-migration-conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The CDU/CSU abandoned the “democratic center,” said Social Democrat leader Rolf Mützenich after the vote, declaring that his party was “outraged.”
Scholz had warned earlier in an angry plenary session that Merz’s plans would put Germany on a par with Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, causing a domino effect with fatal consequences and undermining the rule of law by violating European and international law.
The attack turns the election campaign on its head
Merz argued that other European countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Italy, or the Netherlands already restrict the right to asylum and that Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union allows restrictions in case of a real and serious threat to public order or security.
“What else has to happen in Germany? How many more people have to be killed, how many more children have to fall victim to such acts of violence, before people realize that this is a threat to public safety and public order,” he said.
Last week, a former Afghan asylum seeker with a history of psychiatric problems murdered a two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man in a park in Aschaffenburg, shocking the country and turning an election campaign dominated by economic issues.
Merz said after the vote that he did not want the support of the far right but that it was the responsibility of the other parties to reach a compromise to avoid this becoming necessary.
Alice Weidel, the far-right candidate for chancellor (whose party seconds the CDU-CSU in the polls for the early general election on Feb. 23), spoke of a “great day for democracy” and called on the other parties to abandon their reserve of collaborating with the far-right which she said excluded millions of voters and was therefore undemocratic.
New trial
On Friday, the historic taboo of collaborating with the far-right will face a new test when the Conservatives vote on a bill, which has already passed its first reading.
The measure, introduced by the Conservatives after a knife attack in August 2024, aims to end family reunification for those who do not have a permanent right of residence in Germany, to enshrine in law the aim of limiting migration, and to extend the powers of the Federal Police so that they can revoke residence permits themselves, Merz explained.
It is possible that the text will pass (the first binding text to do so with the votes of the AfD), as the Liberals and the BSW have also announced their support, although it is unlikely to pass the upper house, especially with the imminent dissolution of parliament for the upcoming elections in less than four weeks.
According to an INSA poll for the Bild newspaper, 66% of Germans support Merz’s plans to close the borders. EFE
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