Merz: Migration talks with the traffic light failed
Published: Tuesday, Sep 10th 2024, 18:40
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Friedrich Merz, head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, has declared the talks with the coalition government on tightening asylum rules a failure. The CDU leader said in Berlin that the coalition obviously did not see itself in a position to comprehensively reject asylum seekers at Germany's borders. "This means that the attempt to find a common path has failed," he added.
On Monday and in the morning, there were still very clear indications that they were prepared to make comprehensive rejections, said Merz. He suspected "that the Greens were once again blocking things in the background and ensuring that the SPD and FDP could not go as far as they had told us". He feared that the current resolutions would lead to a renewed increase in migration.
Merz: Scholz should have used his authority to issue directives
Merz criticized the lack of leadership from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). He "should really have made use of his authority to issue directives in this situation at the latest and pushed it through". This would not have required any legal regulations or legislation in the Bundestag, only administrative action by the federal government. "The Federal Chancellor could have issued a corresponding instruction. He did not. The government is without leadership."
"I would really have liked to have seen it differently, but that is the reality of this traffic light and, in particular, the reality of the inability of three coalition partners to make decisions, who are coming together less and less," said Merz. This week, the Bundestag will now discuss legislative proposals from the coalition and the CDU/CSU - for example on asylum seeker benefits, crime prevention and security laws. "We are now back in the normal parliamentary process." However, experience shows that in the end, the lowest common denominator of the coalition will be the deciding factor. "That won't be enough to get the problems under control quickly."
Merz warned that he feared that the failure of the talks would play into the AfD's hands in the Bundestag elections. "If the problems have not been solved by then, and the chances are slim today, if the problems have not been solved by then, then the right-wing and left-wing populists will once again triumph in this country."
©Keystone/SDA
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