The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has called on the federal government to curb irregular migration with a drastic comparison. “The population will go crazy, the people, when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers have been rejected, are not allowed to leave the country, are getting full benefits, are getting full medical care,” said Merz in the “Welt-Talk” on the Welt television station.
“They sit at the doctor and have their teeth changed, and the German citizens next door don’t get any appointments. “What you are doing here is a catastrophe for this country,” he added, addressing the party leaders of the SPD and the Greens, Lars Klingbeil and Omid Nouripour.
“We must we talked about the pull factors here in Germany (…). They exist, and massively so, so that people come here in large numbers,” explained Merz.
The problem in the debate about limiting migration is the Greens, said Merz. “And if the Chancellor is looking for a solution, then we are ready to talk about it. That doesn’t mean we’re joining this government.”
“We said that if the Chancellor and the Greens don’t have a majority in parliament, then “We are ready to talk to him about having them with us,” he added.
The Green Party leader Ricarda Lang immediately objected. “Friedrich Merz deliberately plays groups off against each other and spreads false information. This doesn’t solve a single problem, but it fuels hatred. This is unworthy of the chairman of a people’s party,” she wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter).
The Green Omid Nouripour appealed to Merz during the broadcast: “If we all decide that we are destroying the West, we will not get any further.”
The SPD leader Klingbeil, who also took part, wanted the “acrimony” to disappear from the debate – and he warned against populism. Merz draws pictures that contribute to “that those you don’t want to make strong become stronger“. What was meant was the AfD. (tsp, dpa)