On Friday, the German Parliament has narrowly voted a bill from the Christian Democratic opposition party CDU. The proposal should limit the “influx of foreigners” to Germany, for example by suspending family reunification and making evictions easier by the police.
In a joint and several vote, 338 MPs voted against the CDU proposal and 350 members. It was feared in advance that the right-wing-radical AfD would help the law on a majority. How individual members of parliament voted will be announced later.
After a CDU motion was already adopted on Wednesday with the support of ADD, which the government calls for a stricter asylum policy, Friday’s vote was under high voltage. According to other parties, the Christian Democrats put a hand to the AfD three weeks before the elections, making a “taboo” in German politics.
Fracture in ‘Brandmawer’
According to German media, the question that the German parliamentarians had to answer was much greater than a ‘for’ or ‘against’ the stricter migration rules. According to progressive fractions, the ‘Brandmawer’as the Cordon Sanitaire around the radical-right AfD is called.
After the Wednesday with the support of AfD adopted – according to the Greens and Social Democrats, a historical error – they showed it ‘Brandmawer’ Already cracks. Even worse, the progressive fractions thought it would also Heulen with AfD to guide a bill through the parliament. A motion remains a somewhat non -binding call to the government, while a bill is binding.
“Come back to the Democratic Middle,” shouted her CDU colleague Friedrich Merz in the debate that preceded the vote on the vote on Friday afternoon. The Social Democrats of the SPD even indicated that they would consider the law, if it were adopted, to be tested against the Constitution by submitting the law to the Federal Constitutional Court.
Nevertheless, for the Christian Democrats, sharpening the migration rules weighed heavier than maintaining the Cordon Sanitaire. Just like for the Liberal FDP, which is part of the coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). According to CDU leader Merz, supporting a proposal does not mean an rapprochement with the AfD, said the main candidate to become a Chancellor after the upcoming elections of 23 February: “None of my party is heading out.”
‘Party right-wing extremists’
Merz had already announced in advance to increase the voices of the AfD to limit the migration flow. A step that led, among other things, to open criticism from party mate Angela Merkel. The fact that the bill did not make it after a joint and several vote with only twelve votes difference, will therefore not reassure the left flank of the Bundestag, including parts of the CDU.
In the hour -long and emotional debate, Minister of Foreign Affairs Analena Baerbock (Groenen) even warned that Germany’s European reputation was at stake. “What image did our country sent to the whole of Europe and especially to Moscow last Wednesday? Party right-wing extremists who could hardly believe their happiness, AFD parliamentarians who took grinning selfies to capture this historic day. ”
In recent days, there were demonstrations against the bill in several German cities and the repair of the ‘Brandmawer’. During the debate on Friday, a CDU party office in Hanover was occupied for about an hour. According to CDU representative Tilman Kuban the work of left-wing extremists and “the result when the SPD and the Greens call for violence, hatred and agitation.” Also at the CDU headquarters in Berlin have been demonstrated in recent days against breaking down the ‘Brandmawer’.
Read also
CDU leader Merz hits a breach in the wall around AfD, and turns German politics upside down