CDU leader Merz pushes for asylum reform: Chancellor Scholz 'slipping away…'

There should be no “taboo” when it comes to reforming the asylum system, CDU leader Friedrich Merz warned after a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Merz rules out a quick change in the coalition.

Berlin. Friedrich Merz entered the German chancellery on Tuesday morning. He came out again an hour later, and in the afternoon he spoke at a hastily called press conference about what he had discussed with Olaf Scholz. “The chancellor's country is now slipping out of our hands,” the CDU leader said on the fourth day after the knife attack in Solingen.

Merz has publicly outlined his solution: asylum reform “where there are no longer any taboos”. First, the government and the opposition should name a representative for the reform. Thorsten Frei (CSU) has been nominated for the Confederation. Second, a list of laws should be drawn up, and third, the chancellor should allow German parliamentarians to vote freely along party lines, as she had planned for the previously planned mandatory vaccination.

Merz does not believe that the Greens or the FDP agree with his proposals. But the chancellor’s Social Democrats do. And they, in turn, would find it very difficult to accept Merz’s offer of cooperation: it would ultimately undermine their coalition government. Merz said on Tuesday that he does not want to govern with the SPD, but only wants to solve the asylum issue. Chancellor Scholz has heard his proposal and wants to comment on it.

Back to Austria?

Merz also announced that he would speak to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU). If there is no EU-level solution to keep asylum seekers out of Germany, a “national emergency” should be declared. This would allow Germany to take control of the borders and return detained asylum seekers – including to Austria.

The Solingen attack has reignited debate about the country’s overburdened asylum system. A 26-year-old Syrian is suspected of the crime and should have been deported to Bulgaria last year. A new state parliament is due to be elected in Saxony-Thuringia on Sunday. But Merz said his initiative for tough asylum reform was not aimed at achieving that. He acted “out of deep concern for our country.”