The Union’s parliamentary group in the German Bundestag plans to put a draft bill on the agenda for Friday of this week, titled “Limiting the illegal influx of third-country nationals into Germany”. This decision was made by the faction’s leadership, as reported by the “World”(Tuesday edition) late on Monday afternoon.
Original plans to also introduce a draft bill on rejections at the border will not be pursued for the time being. “Rejections are a purely executive decision”said the party’s right-wing spokesperson Günter Krings (CDU) to the “World”. Therefore, Union top candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU) also stated that he would order rejections at the border as of the first day of his government, if elected as Chancellor.
“It’s only about the bill to limit the influx”Krings said. “We don’t need to bring it into the Bundestag, but it has already been concluded in the committee”– the Interior Committee – “and has a recommendation for a decision. And we will now bring it to the plenum, otherwise, others would probably do the same. And then it will be decided in a normal procedure.”
With “others”, Krings is referring to the AfD: Members of the AfD faction had announced over the weekend that they would put the “influx limitation bill”on the agenda themselves, if the Union did not do so.
The Union’s parliamentary group had presented the influx limitation bill in the autumn of 2024. It has been debated by the committee led by the Interior Committee, but has not yet been finally decided upon in the plenum. The faction now wants to make up for this.
The CDU and CSU are demanding, among other things, an end to the family reunification for subsidiarily protected war refugees and more competences for the Federal Police in measures to end a person’s stay. The bill should also be written into the Residence Act that the influx of foreigners should be limited.
Independently of this, two migration policy motions will be introduced on Wednesday, which the Union’s parliamentary group has already completed and sent to the SPD, Greens and FDP for consultation. One of these motions includes the demand for rejections at the border, but has a purely rhetorical character.