A German politician, Christian Lindner, the leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), has defended a proposal to send back to the parliamentary committees a draft law on the so-called “Zustrombegrenzungsgesetz” (Border Control Act), which for the first time could make the votes of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) decisive in the German parliament’s approval of a bill. Lindner, a former finance minister, has appealed to the votes of the governing parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens, saying that the FDP is looking for a solution in the middle of the political spectrum, without the AfD.
Lindner has shown little willingness to compromise, saying that the FDP is clear on the issue: what is in the draft law must come into effect. The “Zustrombegrenzungsgesetz” aims to restrict the rights of so-called “subsidiary protected persons” who are individuals who face the death penalty or torture in their home country, or for whom a serious individual threat by armed conflicts exists, but who do not receive full asylum in Germany.
According to the plans of the Union, the federal police will be able to request detention and deportation of “fully deportable third-country nationals without a residence permit, as well as those with a residence permit due to the lack of travel documents” in their local area, such as at train stations. The Residence Act, which contains the conditions for the entry, stay, employment and integration of foreigners, will, according to the Union’s plans, be made an “expressive overarching provision” in the future, with the goal of limiting the control of immigration.
The Union and the FDP are already under criticism for having, in a joint majority with the AfD, adopted a resolution on the limitation of migration on Wednesday. According to police reports, around 80,000 people protested across the country on Thursday. For the weekend, around 150 more demonstrations are planned. Former Chancellor Merkel has intervened, reminding Merz of his “state political responsibility” that he expressed in November 2024, to prevent a situation where “only a single, chance or actually brought about majority with those from the AfD” would come about.
Moreover, the former chairman of the Central Council of Jews, Michel Friedman, who was once a member of the CDU’s federal executive, has left the party. The 99-year-old Holocaust survivor Albrecht Weinberg has protested against the vote with the AfD by returning his Federal Cross of Merit together with the Unesco artist Luigi Toscano. Toscano had received the award for his project “Against Forgetting” for which he had photographed more than 400 Holocaust survivors and displayed the photographs at public locations.