Merz's immigration bill rejected in Bundestag, election impact looms
The Bundestag has rejected the CDU/CSU bill on limiting immigration. As noted by the media, this is a painful defeat for Friedrich Merz, who aimed to gain the support of the conservative electorate before the elections with this bill.
On Friday, the Bundestag rejected the CDU/CSU bill concerning immigration restrictions, marking a significant defeat for Friedrich Merz, the candidate of these parties for the chancellor of Germany.
350 SPD and Greens members voted against the bill, while 338 deputies from the CDU, CSU, FDP, and AfD supported it. Five parliamentarians abstained from voting.
Controversies around the vote
Just before the vote, Katharina Droege of the Greens suggested returning the bill to the committee, a move the CDU/CSU and FDP dismissed as disingenuous. Thorsten Frey of the CDU criticized the proposal, arguing it demonstrated a lack of intent to address the issues. Similarly, Christian Duerr of the FDP asserted that the true objective was to obstruct any meaningful outcome. "The goal is to prevent achieving a result," added Christian Duerr from the FDP.
Lack of agreement and election campaign in the background
Earlier, at the initiative of the FDP, members attempted for over three hours to find a compromise, but no agreement was reached. The bill proposed limiting the ability of family members to join individuals with temporary protection and granting additional powers to the federal police in the fight against illegal immigration.
Merz's push to tighten immigration law aimed to gain the support of the conservative electorate before the elections. The pretext was a knife attack by an Afghan individual in Aschaffenburg, where a two-year-old child and an intervening man were killed. According to the authors, the bill was intended to increase security by tightening immigration regulations.
