Once again there is anger over a statement by Friedrich Merz. The CDU leader commented on migration policy in a talk show on the TV channel Welt. He accused the traffic light government of inaction, saying things like “What you are doing here is a catastrophe for this country.” Merz also spoke about the fact that too little is being done to reduce incentives for asylum seekers coming to Germany. The CDU man spoke of so-called “pull factors”. He further stated that 30 percent of asylum seekers in the EU come to Germany. All with the aim of portraying the government as not being in control of the situation. So far, so usual for an opposition leader.
Then the CDU leader said sentences for which he is now being heavily criticized: “They’ll go crazy, the people, when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers are rejected, don’t leave the country, get the full benefits, get the full medical care. They sit “We go to the doctor and have our teeth replaced, and the German citizens next door don’t get any appointments.”
Merz’s statements were not only heard on the world talk show, the Union faction also spread their boss’s statement itself and posted an excerpt on the platform X, formerly Twitter – although the sentence with the teeth is missing.
Criticism of Merz’s statements
The criticism didn’t take long to arrive. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, SPD top candidate for the Hesse election in a week and a half, objected immediately. “This is pathetic populism on the backs of the weakest. Anyone who speaks like that is playing people off against each other and only strengthening the AfD,” she wrote on suffer pain.”
The Green Party leader Ricarda Lang expressed himself similarly to Faeser. “Friedrich Merz deliberately plays groups off against each other, spreading false information. This doesn’t solve a single problem, but it stirs up hatred,” she wrote on X. That was “unworthy of the chairman of a people’s party.”
Also the Federal Dental Association goes at a distance. “I honestly cannot understand Friedrich Merz’s statements,” said the President of the Federal Dental Association, Christoph Benz Business Week.
Reactions from the Union
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt defends Merz, however. This simply pointed to a “mood among the population”. There are load limits not only in municipalities, but also in social systems. “That is why order and humanity and limiting migration are equally necessary,” emphasized Dobrindt.
Also Manfred Weber, CSU deputy and head of the Christian Democratic European party family EPP, jumps in to his colleague. “Friedrich Merz speaks to what people are saying on the street,” said Weber on Deutschlandfunk. “When I’m out in Bavaria during the election campaign, these are the issues that interest and move people.”
The health policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group, Tino Sorgehe said Rhenish Post: “Friedrich Merz is right. The hypocritical outrage from the traffic lights says a lot about how critical opinions are dealt with.” Hundreds of thousands of rejected asylum seekers have been forced to leave the country for years, some of them. Nevertheless, they could use the German healthcare system for free. This needs to be discussed.
Facts about the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act
In the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act Paragraph 4 states on benefits in the event of illness: “For the treatment of acute illnesses and pain conditions, the necessary medical and dental treatment, including the supply of medicines and bandages as well as other services necessary for the recovery, improvement or alleviation of illnesses or the consequences of illness, must be granted .” The following is restricted: “Dentures will only be provided if this cannot be postponed for medical reasons in individual cases.”
However, things look different after the first 18 months of their stay: from then on, asylum seekers are looked after by statutory health insurance companies. “You will receive an electronic health card with which you will receive almost the same benefits as those with statutory health insurance,” says the homepage of the umbrella association of statutory health insurance (GKV).
Facts about the number of asylum seekers required to leave the country
According to the Central Register of Foreigners, around 304,000 people were required to leave the country at the end of 2022, around 248,000 of whom had a toleration permit. Tolerated people are people who are obliged to leave the country but cannot be deported for certain reasons. This could be because they do not have any identification documents, are sick or have a minor child who has a residence permit.