The rise of far-right and anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany coincides with the following years of 2015. Although, the German public opinion towards hosting people displaced due to wars had been favored, for several reasons this opinion has seen a gradual shift. According to the poll conducted by German public broadcaster ARD, the annual Deutschlandtrend survey states 62% of Germans are concerned about Germany taking more refugees [1].
Following the violent attack in Aschaffenburg, carried out by a 28-year-old Afghan man which resulted in the killing of a two-year-old boy and a man, Merz proposed a five-point plan to limit immigration to Germany and start deporting people.
Seeking to limit immigration to Germany and leveraging public dissent for his election campaign, Merz presented his plan at the Bundestag. He could only pass the motion with the votes coming from the AfD. This is the first time in post-war German political history that a German political party gets votes from a far-right party to pass a motion or a law at the Bundestag. Some people, both at the parliament and in the public, view this as a cracking of the “firewall”.
The 5-point plan introduces permanent border checks on the internal EU border, gives the police the right to refuse people whose documents are not eligible to enter Germany, enhances the power provided to federal states to deport people quicker, and stops issuing family reunification visas for people who are staying in Germany with only a temporary residency permit. Although this motion is not binding, it is still concerning since it breaches EU law.
In these times of distress, as civil society, we should keep advocating for human rights for all and not let hate speech shape political discourse. Merz´s plan is breaching the rule of law and putting immigrants’ lives at risk by targeting them. Repatriation should not be forced upon but rather should be voluntary. For the people who have decided to stay, Germany should come up with effective ways to integrate them into German society.
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[1] Deutsche Welle. (2024, February 6). Immigration: German voters want to accept fewer refugees. https://www.dw.com/en/immigration-german-voters-want-to-accept-fewer-refugees/a-71477761