Migration talks put strain on Germany’s anti-AfD ‘firewall’

German parliament faces pre-election immigration showdown as conservative Opposition considers support from far-right AfD, sparking controversy.

An angry pre-election showdown on immigration flared in Germany’s Parliament on Wednesday (January 29, 2025) as the conservative Opposition said it would accept support from lawmakers of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), breaching a long-standing taboo.

Centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz told his election rival Friedrich Merz that any cooperation with the anti-immigration AfD would be an “unforgivable mistake”.

Mr. Merz, who planned to file motions demanding tougher immigration rules, fired back at Mr. Scholz by recalling a series of bloody attacks blamed on asylum seekers and demanded: “What else needs to happen in Germany?”

Mr. Merz had vowed to drive two motions, that would signal a dramatic shift in German immigration and security policy, through the Bundestag on Wednesday, if necessary with the backing of the AfD, which has signalled its support in what was expected to be a tight vote.

Mr. Scholz’s SPD and the Greens have voiced alarm this would spell the end of a long-standing “firewall” of non-cooperation with the far right that all mainstream parties have so far adhered to. Mr. Scholz told Parliament that “since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany over 75 years ago, there has always been a clear consensus among all democrats in our Parliaments: we do not make common cause with the far right.”