Merkel criticises Merz for teaming up with Germany's far-right on migration vote

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday issued a rare public rebuke of Germany's main opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, for accepting help from the far-right to push tough new migration plans through parliament.

Merz — the front-runner in Germany's election next month — broke a long-standing pledge to not cooperate with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Wednesday, when he accepted its votes in order to pass his migration proposal.

The non-binding motion calling for stricter border and asylum rules passed with a razor-thin majority thanks to the AfD's support. It was the first time that an AfD-backed motion was passed in German parliament, with the party calling it "a historic day for Germany".

Merkel said Merz — her successor as leader of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) party — had been "wrong" to break the political taboo of working with the AfD.

Merz has faced widespread criticism for working with the AfD, but insisted in a fiery debate ahead of the vote that it was necessary in order to stem violence in Germany.

"I am not looking for any other majorities in this German Bundestag than those in the democratic centre of parliament. If there was such a majority here today, then I regret it," Merz said after the vote.

The favourite to be Germany's next chancellor toughened his rhetoric on migration after a rejected Afghan asylum-seeker was arrested over a knife attack that killed a man and a 2-year-old boy in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg last week.

The incident followed knife attacks in Mannheim and Solingen last year in which the suspects were immigrants from Afghanistan and Syria. A separate attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg — in which the suspect is a Saudi doctor — has put immigration firmly on the agenda in the run-up to the country's election on 23 February.

Backlash and protests

Merz says Germany has had a "misguided asylum and immigration policy" for a decade since Merkel, his predecessor, allowed large numbers of migrants into the nation in 2015.

His party, which are currently leading in opinion polls, has said that Germany needs to radically overhaul its approach to immigration and take a tougher stance.

The outgoing government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green party have argued that they have already toughened controls on immigration. The coalition, which also included the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), implemented temporary controls on Germany's borders and tightened laws on deportations.

For his part, Scholz described Merz's proposals as incompatible with both German and EU asylum law.

He said his government had already "pushed the boundaries" of what is possible during its tenure, and that Merz's motion puts the country's reputation as a law-abiding European ally at risk.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that the motion approved on Wednesday jeopardised "joint European action through dangerous national solo efforts.”

“I want to make it clear because the debates in Germany are causing irritation among our European neighbours these days,” Faeser added.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said it would not comment on, "political debates, drafts and announcements" but would look at a "text when it is ready."

The EU's internal affairs and migration commissioner Magnus Brunner declined to comment on Merz's proposals, but said that more needed to be done on returns across the bloc.

"Nobody understands why people [who] are not allowed to, cannot stay in the European Union, and that is why are are working on new, tighter rules," he said.

Several hundred people demonstrated against stricter migration policies in front of the CDU party headquarters in Berlin, including organisations such as Amnesty International, on Wednesday evening after the vote.