Friedrich Merz, leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), called for stricter migration policy and swifter deportations during a debate in Germany’s parliament.
The party is part of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance, which is currently ahead in the polls ahead of federal elections due for February.
“We owe it to people to act,” he said, referring to migration policy.
He said that the CDU/CSU attempts to find a “common solution” with the Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition had failed.
Merz said it was possible that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party could, for the first time, ensure a parliamentary majority for a “necessary law” on Friday.
The CDU leader was met with criticism after he suggested he could pass legislation with support from the AfD.
“No doubt about it: democracy is in danger if radicals come to power, so we … will do everything we can to prevent this from happening,” Merz said.
He stressed that Scholz’s government represented a minority in parliament after his coalition’s collapse in November.
“I will add that democracy is also under threat when a social and political minority … uses radicals as a tool to permanently ignore the will of the majority of the population,” Merz said during the debate on Wednesday.
He called for Germany to make “effective decisions” against people who had arrived in the country illegally.
Merz argued that Germany had a “massive problem with criminality among foreigners, particularly among asylum seekers.”
He stressed that Germany also had a large number of people of “migrant background,” many of whom had lived in the country for decades.
Merz warned that people of migrant origin had become a “target” for the far-right, which he said was represented by the AfD in the Bundestag.
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