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Merkel criticizes German front-runner Merz over migration vote with far-right support

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FILE -Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during a reception of the North Rhine-Westphalian Christian Democratic Union, CDU, in Duesseldorf, Germany, Jan. 18, 2025, ahead of the federal elections in February. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

BERLIN (AP) β€” Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday issued rare public criticism of her successor as the country's center-right leader, the front-runner in Germany's election next month, for putting to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that only passed with the help of a far-right party.

Germany's center-left governing parties have cast doubt on whether conservative leader Friedrich Merz can still be trusted not to bring the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, into government after Wednesday's events.

Merz, determined to underline his center-right Union bloc's commitment to cutting irregular migration after a deadly knife attack last week by a rejected asylum-seeker, put a nonbinding motion calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders to a vote, although it might need AfD's votes to pass. The measure passed by a three-vote margin thanks to the far-right party's support.

Merkel, a former leader of Merz's Christian Democratic Union, noted in a rare statement that Merz had said in November that no measures should be passed with AfD's support before the Feb. 23 election.

She said she supported that position but β€œI think it was wrong no longer to feel committed to this proposal and, on Nov. 29, to enable with open eyes for the first time a majority with votes from AfD in a vote in the German parliament.”

The Associated Press


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