Germany's far-right upends convention with landmark vote on immigration
Germany’s opposition conservatives won a parliamentary vote Wednesday for a proposed migration restrictions with help from the far-right Alternative for Germany.
Germany’s opposition conservatives won parliamentary approval on Wednesday for a proposal to drastically restrict migration with the help of votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), breaking a taboo on cooperation with the far-right.
The proposal is non-binding but the role of the AfD in passing them is symbolically important in Germany, which faces a national election on Feb. 23 in which the far-right party is tipped to emerge as the second largest after the conservatives.
Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s CDU/CSU conservative bloc, is keen to seize the initiative on migration policy, which has shifted sharply back into focus after an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested over deadly stabbings last week.
Merz presented two non-binding motions in parliament calling for heightened security measures and the closure of German land borders to irregular migration, prompting hours of emotionally charged debate in the Bundestag lower house.
With Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens opposed to the motions, however, Merz knew he would have to rely on support of the AfD. The land border measure passed with a slim majority of just three votes, while the security proposal was rejected.
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