The Fort Worth Press - Germany's far-right 'firewall' crumbles as migration debate flares

USD -
AED 3.67298
AFN 73.066141
ALL 94.236801
AMD 398.178071
ANG 1.795813
AOA 914.5023
ARS 1056.243988
AUD 1.57117
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.701643
BAM 1.861718
BBD 2.011927
BDT 121.071644
BGN 1.865655
BHD 0.37689
BIF 2950.440481
BMD 1
BND 1.336912
BOB 6.885063
BRL 5.716699
BSD 0.996426
BTN 86.38646
BWP 13.744164
BYN 3.260943
BYR 19600
BZD 2.001552
CAD 1.418715
CDF 2865.999697
CHF 0.90113
CLF 0.024618
CLP 944.549977
CNY 7.254023
CNH 7.26266
COP 4125.5
CRC 505.256745
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.960806
CZK 23.886007
DJF 177.442922
DKK 7.11775
DOP 61.93869
DZD 134.768002
EGP 50.595598
ERN 15
ETB 127.62873
EUR 0.954175
FJD 2.29525
FKP 0.803654
GBP 0.793525
GEL 2.825025
GGP 0.803654
GHS 15.395013
GIP 0.803654
GMD 71.497564
GNF 8614.494244
GTQ 7.692271
GYD 208.47473
HKD 7.779785
HNL 25.402763
HRK 7.225076
HTG 130.379946
HUF 383.171014
IDR 16227
ILS 3.55557
IMP 0.803654
INR 86.87685
IQD 1305.334901
IRR 42087.498844
ISK 140.189887
JEP 0.803654
JMD 157.345403
JOD 0.709499
JPY 151.518496
KES 129.203075
KGS 87.450347
KHR 3989.395879
KMF 468.596354
KPW 900.090061
KRW 1443.170245
KWD 0.30847
KYD 0.830339
KZT 495.404722
LAK 21655.632606
LBP 89229.692877
LKR 294.488047
LRD 198.793948
LSL 18.309718
LTL 2.952741
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.888938
MAD 9.948074
MDL 18.633363
MGA 4693.709515
MKD 58.673749
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3461.151901
MOP 7.988691
MRU 39.667604
MUR 46.290295
MVR 15.397857
MWK 1727.658238
MXN 20.411698
MYR 4.433992
MZN 63.898703
NAD 18.309718
NGN 1509.809876
NIO 36.666334
NOK 11.11506
NPR 138.215515
NZD 1.743421
OMR 0.38502
PAB 0.996445
PEN 3.702114
PGK 4.007406
PHP 58.015504
PKR 278.141631
PLN 3.969285
PYG 7851.237703
QAR 3.632625
RON 4.74969
RSD 111.76295
RUB 91.749572
RWF 1398.02295
SAR 3.75059
SBD 8.432716
SCR 14.390535
SDG 600.999641
SEK 10.70273
SGD 1.341125
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.749965
SLL 20969.505638
SOS 569.41331
SRD 35.222974
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.718415
SYP 13003.016048
SZL 18.305737
THB 33.709026
TJS 10.876173
TMT 3.5
TND 3.154964
TOP 2.342104
TRY 36.22839
TTD 6.762269
TWD 32.729597
TZS 2599.999981
UAH 41.462941
UGX 3666.703156
UYU 43.282708
UZS 12946.736663
VES 61.992598
VND 25482.5
VUV 123.663246
WST 2.837369
XAF 624.390917
XAG 0.030849
XAU 0.000345
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.76293
XOF 624.390917
XPF 113.52311
YER 248.000264
ZAR 18.43163
ZMK 9001.191301
ZMW 28.075219
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    -0.0700

    12.35

    -0.57%

  • RIO

    0.0700

    63.36

    +0.11%

  • CMSC

    0.0900

    23.5

    +0.38%

  • BCC

    1.0300

    121.63

    +0.85%

  • NGG

    -0.5400

    60.73

    -0.89%

  • BCE

    0.1900

    23.82

    +0.8%

  • RBGPF

    63.5700

    63.57

    +100%

  • CMSD

    0.1872

    23.69

    +0.79%

  • BTI

    -0.7900

    38.82

    -2.04%

  • RELX

    -0.8400

    51.07

    -1.64%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.84

    +0.26%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.36

    -0.84%

  • GSK

    -0.3800

    36.17

    -1.05%

  • JRI

    0.0435

    12.83

    +0.34%

  • AZN

    -0.8700

    73.58

    -1.18%

  • BP

    0.5100

    35

    +1.46%

Germany's far-right 'firewall' crumbles as migration debate flares
Germany's far-right 'firewall' crumbles as migration debate flares / Photo: © AFP

Germany's far-right 'firewall' crumbles as migration debate flares

Weeks before Germany's elections, a heated immigration debate inflamed by a deadly knife attack sparked a political earthquake Wednesday when conservative parties for the first time cooperated with the far-right AfD.

Text size:

In what was decried by opponents as a breach of a long-standing taboo, the opposition CDU-CSU relied on backing from the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to pass a controversial resolution through the national parliament.

Together, and with backing from the smaller FDP, they narrowly passed a toughly-worded motion that harshly attacked the immigration policy of embattled centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz ahead of February 23 elections.

Though it lacked the force of law, the motion called on the government to permanently police all borders and deny entry to all irregular migrants, whether they claim asylum or not.

Emotions are raw after a knife attack killed two people, including a two-year-old child, in Bavaria last Friday. Police have arrested a 28-year-old Afghan man as the main suspect.

In heated exchanges in the chamber, Scholz had told his election rival, frontrunner Friedrich Merz, that any cooperation with the AfD would be an "unforgivable mistake".

Scholz told parliament that "since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany over 75 years ago, there has always been a clear consensus among all democrats in our parliaments: we do not make common cause with the far right."

Merz, angrily fired back at Scholz by recalling a series of bloody attacks blamed on asylum seekers and demanded: "What else needs to happen in Germany?"

"How many more children have to become victims of such acts of violence before you also believe there is a threat to public safety and order?"

The AfD's top candidate, Alice Weidel, cheered the outcome of the vote in a message on X, calling it "a historic day for Germany, a victory for democracy".

- 'Goodbye to centre' -

In the vote, conservative and far-right lawmakers, also backed by the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), passed the resolution with 348 votes in favour and 345 against, with 10 abstentions.

The senior lawmaker for Scholz's SPD party, Rolf Muetzenich, afterwards said that Merz had "said goodbye to the political centre of this house today and we are outraged by that".

The resolution calls for the "rejection of all attempts to enter the country illegally without exception" because in the neighbouring EU countries they arrive from, "they are already safe from persecution".

The resolution also argues that people required to leave Germany "must be taken into custody immediately", adding that more detention centres should be built.

It labelled as "clearly dysfunctional" the existing EU regulations on asylum seekers.

The motion also criticised the AfD, which it accused of "using the problems, worries and fears caused by mass illegal migration to stir up xenophobia and spread conspiracy theories".

Despite this clause, the AfD voted in support of the resolution, helping it to pass despite the strong opposition of Scholz's Social Democrats and the Greens.

- 'Poisoned climate' -

Scholz had urged the CDU not to accept support from "those who fight our democracy, who despise our united Europe, and who have been poisoning the climate in our country for years".

"This is a serious mistake -- an unforgivable mistake."

Merz, despite growing pushback also from human rights groups and churches, had argued the situation is so dire that he would take whatever support he could get.

He told parliament before the vote that the sight of "cheering and grinning AfD MPs will be unbearable" but maintained that "a correct decision does not become wrong just because the wrong people agree".

The push comes after Germany was stunned by news last Friday that a man attacked a kindergarten group with a kitchen knife in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg.

The attacker killed a two-year-old Moroccan boy and a German man who tried to shield the toddlers, and wounded three more people, including a two-year-old Syrian girl.

Police arrested a 28-year-old Afghan suspect, who was later transferred to a closed psychiatric institution.

In December a Saudi man drove a car through a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, and there were also deadly stabbing attacks last year blamed on Syrian and Afghan men.

A.Maldonado--TFWP