- Merz issues a deadline for border rerouting decisions by Tuesday.
Merz has given the traffic light coalition until Tuesday to come up with a solid plan for stopping unauthorized entries at Germany's borders and turning away those who still try to enter. If the federal government fails to provide such a guarantee, Merz believes that any further discussions with them are pointless. He made these comments during a campaign event in Brandenburg an der Havel.
At a previous meeting on migration and internal security, Merz had stated that the Union and the CDU/CSU-governed states would only engage in further talks if border rejections were enforced. Representatives from the traffic light coalition, the federal states, and the Union were all present at this gathering.
Merz: Border rejections legally possible
The Union is only interested in negotiations if there's a commitment to border rejections. According to Merz, the legality of this has already been established and is documented in both the Interior and Justice Ministries since 2016. He explained, "The necessary approvals are already in place stating that border rejections in Germany are legal." Merz emphasized that no further clarification is required.
Scholz should exert his leadership
Merz urged Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz to demonstrate leadership within his coalition. Merz suggested a meeting on Wednesday and further discussions in the German Bundestag the following week. With the necessary laws in place to enable border rejections, Merz indicated that the traffic light coalition has been blocking this issue.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced after the initial talks in Berlin that certain aspects would be legally evaluated. She proposed meeting again and set a date for this within the forthcoming week. However, Faeser stressed that legal evaluations are a prerequisite for this.
Merz proposed a meeting in Brandenburg an der Havel on Wednesday, emphasizing the need for the traffic light coalition to push for border rejections, given the legality of such actions as established in 2016 by both the Interior and Justice Ministries. Despite the announced legal evaluations by Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, Merz believed that the traffic light coalition had been stalling on this issue.
The traffic light coalition's discussions with Merz and the Union regarding border security had been stagnant due to their opposition to border rejections, as Merz had a campaign event in Brandenburg an der Havel on the Havel river, reiterating his stance on the issue.
