After the knife attack in Solingen, is there anything going on between the traffic light coalition and the Union on the issue of migration? Scholz and Merz are taking an hour to explore this.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and opposition leader Friedrich Merz met for a good hour in the Chancellery to discuss the consequences of the knife attack in Solingen. According to reporters from the German Press Agency, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag arrived at the government headquarters shortly before 9 a.m., and Scholz himself arrived a few minutes later. At around 10:15 a.m., Merz left the Chancellery again without commenting on the conversation.
After the knife attack, the CDU leader had again offered the traffic light government cooperation in migration policy and presented a list of demands. It includes a freeze on the admission of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan and the general possibility of deporting rejected asylum seekers back to these two countries. However, Merz left open how such a freeze on admission would be legally implemented.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Monday with regard to the talks: “Of course, the proposals must always be ones that do not violate the Basic Law or the UN Human Rights Charter or anything similar.” Possible agreements must be “reasonable and effective.”
Scholz and Merz had already held talks on migration last autumn before a migration summit between the federal and state governments. However, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader was dissatisfied with the package of measures subsequently agreed by Scholz and the state premiers to reduce the number of refugees and rejected further cooperation. Scholz had refused to set up a joint working group of the government and the Union to control immigration. “In my view, this means that the issue of the Germany pact on migration is over,” said Merz at the beginning of November 2023.
Source: Stern
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