20 against Merz – Merkel's arm still reaches deep into the CDU

Created: 12/04/2022 10:23 am

By: Georg Anastasiadis

Georg Anastasiadis comments on the statements made by Friedrich Merz.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa-Bildfunk/Sleep/Montage:MM

In the Bundestag vote on the "opportunity right of residence" for illegal but well-integrated migrants, twenty Union MPs oppose Friedrich Merz's line.

A comment.

What connects Hansi Flick with Friedrich Merz?

Both had the cake on their faces on Friday, one in the desert of Qatar and the other in the German Bundestag.

There, 20 members of the Union gave their boss a lesson.

They abstained from voting on the traffic light coalition’s “opportunity right of residence” for illegal but well-integrated migrants – to the considerable annoyance of the opposition leader, who sees the new law as a false amnesty for migrants who take their right to stay by ignoring the right to asylum to have.

There were smirking faces in the ranks of the SPD, Greens and Liberals.

The embarrassment would certainly have been easier to bear if it hadn't been almost two dozen Merkelians, some of whom were prominent, who drove the new CDU leader into the parade, above all the father of all defeats, Armin Laschet.

For the traffic light government, it was revenge for its recent defeat in citizen income;

for Merz the painful hint that the arm of the former chancellor still reaches deep into the party.

After all, it is likely that a good part of Merkel's welcome culture has attracted migrants who, thanks to the new traffic light law, are not supposed to start their journey home after all.

According to the CDU dissenters, the job market opportunity is “sensible and pragmatic”.

"Sensible and pragmatic", according to the CDU dissenters, is the job market opportunity that the traffic light is now giving to some foreigners.

You can actually see it that way, also in view of the fact that many of those affected can practically not be sent back to their home countries because of their unclear origin, so the state makes the best of a situation that is already muddled.

It would be good if the traffic light showed the same zeal for the – promised in return – accelerated deportation of delinquent and non-integrated migrants as with the new “opportunity to stay”.

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