German opposition leader vows to push asylum law change after killings
German opposition leader vows to push asylum law change after killings
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Friedrich Merz, favourite to become next chancellor, will bring proposals before parliament despite possible need for support from AfD. Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s opposition conservatives, has vowed to bring proposals for an immediate change to the country’s asylum law before parliament this week, even if it ends up being passed with the support of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.
Merz, who is expected to become Germany’s next chancellor, has been accused of shifting his position on the country’s “firewall” against the party with the proposed law change, which would aim to dramatically increase the number of deportations.
The sharpened tone in Merz’s rhetoric follows an attack in the southern city of Aschaffenburg last week in which a two-year-old child and a 41-year-old man were stabbed to death by an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who had been scheduled for deportation.
Authorities have been blamed for failing to recognise the danger the man posed to the public due to a psychiatric illness for which he was being treated. The attack has swung the election campaign ahead of polling day on 23 February heavily towards voter concerns over migration and domestic security.
Both are favoured campaign themes of the AfD, whose co-leader Alice Weidel, appearing alongside a beamed-in Elon Musk at the weekend, promised that “on day one” her party would close Germany’s borders. On Monday, after meetings with his party executive in Berlin, Merz said: “It is now really time to make decisions.” He told reporters: “There are 40,000 asylum applicants who need to be deported. A local politician told me this weekend that there are ticking timebombs walking around our towns and communities.”.
