Germany's Merz hopes migration won't be 'main topic' of 2025 election

German centre-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who has repeatedly blasted Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition over migration policy, said on Tuesday that he hopes the issue does not dominate the 2025 national elections.

Merz, who appeared to secure the chancellor candidacy for the CDU/CSU bloc on Tuesday, said he hopes to avoid further exacerbating the debate during the campaign ahead of the September 2025 election.

He instead suggested that the sputtering state of the German economy would be the top theme he hopes to strike: "The economic situation in Germany is precarious."

"Migration remains a major issue. However, I would also like to emphasize once again: It would be my wish that it does not become the main topic," Merz said in Berlin.

"I want us to solve this problem, to solve it together if necessary," Merz said.

But he quickly added that his CDU/CSU bloc "will not go halfway" to meet Scholz's government on the issue.