An angry chancellor and an opposition leader who acts like a statesman: the general debate in the Bundestag is dominated by blame games. And a major compromise on migration is more distant than ever.
After the failure of the migration talks between the government and the Union, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and CDU leader Friedrich Merz blamed each other in the Bundestag. In the general debate of the Bundestag, Scholz accused the opposition leader in an unusually sharp speech of not seeking an agreement from the outset and of following a “script” of failure in the migration talks. “You have run for your own leeway,” said the Chancellor. Merz indignantly rejected this: “This claim is infamous.”
Merz wants to talk about migration only in the Bundestag
The Chancellor did offer the CDU leader the opportunity to continue the talks. “The door is not closed.” However, the leader of the largest opposition faction, the CDU/CSU, now wants to shift the debate on migration policy to the Bundestag. He justified this by saying that the government could decide on the necessary measures with its own majority because no amendment to the Basic Law was necessary. For this, the traffic light coalition would need a two-thirds majority in parliament and thus the approval of parts of the opposition.
“We are not going to enter into an endless loop of talks with you (…),” said Merz, adding: “You make the decisions in the government and we can discuss everything else here in the German Bundestag.”
The CDU leader declared the migration talks between the traffic light government, the states and the Union had failed on Tuesday after the second round. The coalition obviously does not see itself in a position to comprehensively reject migrants at the German borders, he said. “The attempt to take a common path has therefore failed.”
Scholz: Traffic light coalition has stopped “the big ranting”
Scholz sharply criticized this and attacked Merz personally. “You are the type of politician who believes that an interview in Bild am Sonntag has solved the migration issue,” he raged at the lectern. Merz had barely left the editorial offices when he had already forgotten what he had proposed. “You cannot do it, that is the truth we are confronted with,” Scholz said, addressing Merz and the Union.
His traffic light coalition, on the other hand, has put an end to “the big ranting” of CDU-led governments and has achieved the “biggest turnaround in dealing with irregular migration”. Among other things, Scholz referred to the acceleration of deportations, the federal government’s security package, which will be discussed in the Bundestag for the first time this Thursday, and the planned common European asylum system. “Don’t complain, act and get to grips with it. That’s the motto,” said Scholz.
Scholz with clenched fist – Merz plays the statesman
Scholz, who is usually so quiet, spoke in the Bundestag at a volume that is usually only seen in election campaign speeches. During his attacks on the Union, he clenched his fist several times.
The opposition leader, however, refrained from harsh verbal attacks on the subject of migration and instead acted in a more statesmanlike manner. Merz firmly rejected accusations that the Union was acting in a xenophobic manner. “Germany must remain an open and foreign-friendly country,” he said. The Union stands “clearly and unequivocally against any form of xenophobia and hostility towards foreigners.”
Dobrindt as attack department: “Coalition of relegation”
The sharp attacks were made by CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt, who opened the debate – a tactical maneuver. Normally, the parliamentary group leader of the largest opposition party speaks first. In previous general debates, this gave Scholz the advantage of being able to respond to Merz. This time it was the other way around.
Dobrindt used his opening speech to settle accounts with the traffic light coalition. It is “not a coalition of progress, but a coalition of decline in this country,” he said. “People are fed up with these traffic light excuses,” criticized the CSU regional group leader, adding that people had “understood that anyone who asks you for leadership will only get excuses. But that endangers security and social peace in our country.”
Weidel calls Scholz “Chancellor of decline”
AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel also sharply attacked Scholz and called him the “chancellor of decline”. Citizens are being appeased with token politics and migration summits, criticized Weidel, who spoke directly after Scholz. She called for “illegal migrants not to be allowed into the country in the first place, but rather for the borders to be closed and for anyone who wants to enter Germany without legal entitlement and without papers to be turned away.”
Lindner calls for top-level migration summit
How migration policy will continue is unclear. FDP leader Christian Lindner is calling for a new attempt at the highest level. Scholz and Merz should negotiate with Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and himself personally, Lindner wrote on Platform X. “The Union’s cancellation of the asylum summit must not be the last word.”
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr also called on the Union in the Bundestag to cooperate. “I believe that people in Germany no longer understand a blockade on the issue of regulating and limiting migration,” he said. The Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge accused the Union of “politics without sense and reason” in the migration debate. “They simply had no interest in a sensible dialogue and that is a huge missed opportunity.”
Scholz and Merz also disagree on Ukraine strategy
The general debate on the Chancellor’s budget is the climax of the first discussions on the 2025 budget, which was introduced in the Bundestag on Tuesday. Migration was the dominant topic in the debate, which is traditionally used to discuss government policy as a whole. But foreign policy was also discussed.
Scholz repeated his call to hold another peace conference to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine – with Moscow at the table. “Now is the moment, now is the time when we must explore what options arise,” said the SPD politician.
Merz also rejected this move. He said that such “peace and diplomatic rhetoric” would not make Russian President Vladimir Putin give up.
BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht supported diplomatic efforts to find a peace solution in Ukraine. However, she called on Scholz, among other things, to abandon the planned stationing of US missiles in Germany.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
