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

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has 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 onl…

BERLIN — 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 “I 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.”