Lawmakers in Germany gave a broad welcome on Thursday to a package of security-related measures introduced by the coalition government in the wake of a deadly stabbing in Solingen near Dusseldorf.
Three people were killed and eight others injured the knife attack at a street festival last month. The main suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian who according to the law should have been deported to Bulgaria in 2023.
A senior figure in the opposition conservatives, Thorsten Frei, said that the proposals from the centre-left government contained "many sensible measures," representing a marked changed of tone from earlier in the week, when related migration talks between party leaders ended in acrimony.
Frei added however that measures for rejecting certain arrivals at the German borders and further powers to combat irregular migration and terrorism were missing.
The bills presented by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats and its coalition partners the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) include: a tightening of the law on the carrying of knives in public; the cancellation of benefits for asylum seekers whose claims should be processed in other countries - as in the case of the Solingen suspect; and authorization for the biometric analysis of publicly accessible data online to identify and locate suspects.
Everything "that is practically and legally possible" is being done to ensure the safety of citizens, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.
On Tuesday evening, cross-party talks between Scholz's coalition and the centre-right opposition on new migration measures collapsed amid bitter criticism.
Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz initially opposed a fresh round of talks on migration, but said on Thursday that he may be open to negotiations, in response to a call from FDP chief Christian Lindner to find a joint solution to the migration issue.
Merz also suggested on Thursday that border officials turn more people away at the border as a deterrent, starting on October 1.
Politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) used the debate on Thursday to highlight an upcoming election in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin.
"If you want a real change in migration policy, you have to vote AfD," said AfD lawmaker Bernd Baumann.
Migration and security have been two of the most contentious topics on the German campaign trail in September, with mainstream parties under pressure from the far-right.
The AfD performed well in two state elections on September 1, winning a state election for the first time, and currently polling in the lead in Brandenburg.
Local News
Comments / 0