"Bad news for democracy", analyst says as Germany's far-right 'firewall' crumbles

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00:00Next, with 348 votes in favour and 345 against, Germany's parliament has narrowly passed a motion

00:07urging tougher restrictions on immigration, with the backing of the far-right AFD party.

00:13It came after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Conservative leader Friedrich Merz

00:17against working with the AFD, saying cooperation with the far-right party would be

00:22an unforgivable mistake. But the move would effectively bring down the so-called firewall

00:27against the AFD, which other parties have sought to maintain, refusing even to pass

00:31legislation that depends on far-right votes. Elisa Gadeva has more.

00:38Cooperating with the far-right has been a long-standing taboo in post-war Germany,

00:44one that the men tipped to be the country's next chancellor broke on Wednesday.

00:50We have a massive problem of crime from foreigners in Germany,

00:55especially among asylum seekers. It is possible that the AFD will enable the majority for a

01:02necessary law here in the German Bundestag for the first time.

01:09The leader of the Conservative bloc proposed a non-binding motion to crack down on migration.

01:15The resolution lacks the force of law, but calls for stricter security measures and the closure

01:20of German land borders to irregular migration. Merz relied on the votes of the AFD far-right

01:27party and the smaller FDP and cited recent acts of violence that shook the country to justify

01:33the collaboration. Olaf Scholz accused him of breaking Germany's firewall of non-cooperation

01:40with the far-right. You are openly accepting the support of the AFD for your unlawful proposals,

01:50the support of those who fight against our democracy, who despise our united Europe,

01:55who have been poisoning the climate in our country for years.

01:58This is a serious mistake. It is an unforgivable mistake.

02:02The leader of AFD accused Merz of copying her party, but nevertheless voted in favour.

02:12We will continue to campaign for a real turnaround on migration,

02:16with the closure of borders and the deportation of illegal aliens.

02:21The controversial vote took place just weeks before Germany's national election.

02:27Let's talk more about this with Sophie Pornschnegel. She is Deputy Director at

02:32Think Tank Europe Jacques Delors and she joins us from Brussels. Good to have you on the programme,

02:37Sophie. Thanks so much for giving us your time. So, Merz's plans would include an overhaul of

02:42Germany's asylum laws and could dramatically increase the number of deportations from the

02:47country. First of all, just give us your reaction to this motion passing.

02:52Well, I think it's a historic moment because it's the first time that you have seen

02:55democratic parties, so the Conservatives and the Liberals, actually accepting to have far-right

03:00votes to support a motion. It's clearly the breakdown of a firewall, especially in a country

03:06that has Nazi history, knowing that the AFD clearly has parts that are with Nazi background.

03:13And I think it's clearly in the current wave that we see also with Trump having a similar policy

03:19and just generally a strong crackdown on immigration throughout Europe.

03:23Well, Sophie, you mentioned that firewall that parties have tried to maintain in this

03:28post-war era. What precedent does this motion passing with the support of the AFD set now?

03:34Well, we do have elections coming up in Germany and if you look at the poll numbers,

03:38the Conservatives are winning but they need a partner. And the partners, except for the far-right,

03:43are either the Greens or the Social Democrats. And with that vote, clearly it makes the coalition

03:48talks much more difficult because the Social Democrats and the Greens do not want to be

03:53co-allied with a party that clearly is supported by the far-right for its own policies. So I think

03:58it creates much more difficulty to have a good working coalition going forward. And we risk in

04:04Germany ending up in a similar situation as in Austria, where you had no compromise in the last

04:10elections, after parliamentary elections, which led now to having a far-right chancellor. So I

04:15think it's bad news, I would say, for democracy in Germany.

04:19Well, you spoke of the coalition. Of course, that is going to be a massive speaking point during

04:23these elections coming up, as you mentioned. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has questioned

04:28whether a move like this from Merz could mean that he could not stick to his promise to not

04:33form a coalition government with the AFD if the Christian Democratic Union wins elections next

04:38month. Can you see Merz making that kind of a U-turn? It's difficult to say for now. He has

04:44said that he wouldn't do a coalition with the far-right, so the alternative for Germany. But

04:49this shows that this barrier is slowly cracking down. So maybe it's not for this time round,

04:53but maybe in the next four to five years that we will see that. And it's similar at regional level

04:58as well. So I think it's a process. I wouldn't say it will be this time, probably. But going

05:02forward, it might very much happen. What is clear is that you do have a campaign topic that is set

05:07on migration. And I think in terms of political strategy, it might not be smart, because as it's

05:12been said, the original is always better than the copy. And I'm not sure that people will stop

05:17voting for the far-right just because we have more restriction on immigration. Most of the time,

05:22it's not so much a policy question than a question of emotions and fears and instrumentalising that

05:28fear of citizens. Let's focus in on what Merz is proposing as part of this crackdown on migration.

05:34He's calling for a blanket rejection of all asylum seekers arriving on Germany's borders.

05:40Now, is something like this even possible, given that Germany is part of the Refugee Convention?

05:46It would be in breach if he was to put forward something like that.

05:49Exactly. It would be in breach, not only with international law, but also with EU law.

05:54What might also be said is that the current Traffic Light Coalition has also been restricting

05:59migration quite heavily. So the entire narrative and policies changed already last year,

06:04with decisions to close borders in Germany, which is against the Schengen Agreement,

06:08and also to send back refugees to Afghanistan and to Syria when it was still under the Assad

06:14regime, which also, from a human rights perspective, is questionable. So it's not

06:18only the Conservatives. I think you have all parties really moving to the right and making

06:22that kind of extremist position way more mainstream in the last year. But you see that especially the

06:27far-right and the Conservatives are winning with that one. Merz is having to, he's sort of in the

06:34midst of a balancing act, though, isn't he? Because he needs to keep a hard line on migration

06:39to stop the AFD from gaining more electoral ground. But he's also trying to maintain a

06:44distance with the party. He said in the past that the AFD is a danger to German democracy.

06:48Talk to us a little bit about this complicated tightrope that Merz is currently walking at the

06:53moment. Yes, I think it is difficult because you do have the topic of migration that really is the

07:00number one priority in public opinion. So the far-right has won in that sense that they really

07:06dominate the narrative. And you have other parties trying to either adopt that kind of

07:12narrative or to try to be against it. But we're not discussing inflation. We're not discussing

07:17the economy that is failing in Germany at the moment. So there's other topics that are really

07:20not in the public discourse at the moment. And I think we shouldn't underestimate also the

07:26influence of Elon Musk and Trump's inauguration. We had Elon Musk participate in the rally from

07:31the far right, supporting Alice Weidel also on X. So you clearly see that interference from

07:38the Trump administration within German democracy at this point.

07:41Sophie, great to get your insight. Thanks so much for joining us here on Prime News Paris today.

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