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Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday criticized current Chancellor Friedrich Merz's migration policy as a threat to freedom of movement in the EU.
According to Merkel, this would destroy the European Union, which Germany does not want to happen.
“We have to focus on protecting the [EU's] external borders, anything else will ultimately cost us, if it becomes permanent, freedom of movement within the European Union. I am arguing for a European solution, because otherwise we could see Europe falling apart, and I don't want that, and I hope the new federal government doesn't want that either. I assume it doesn't,” Merkel said of Merz's new border policy, which would turn away migrants at Germany's borders within the bloc.
Ahead of Germany's February 23 snap elections, Merz promised to crack down on migration on his "first day" in office. Less than 24 hours after being sworn in, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced tighter border controls that would lead to more migrants, including asylum seekers, being denied entry to Germany.
Legal scholars, left-wing opposition parties in Germany and its neighbors say the new policy violates European law.
" I don't believe we can fight illegal migration on the German-Austrian or German-Polish border. I have always supported European solutions and the truth is that this takes a very long time. I have always supported European solutions and the truth is that this takes a very long time," Merkel said.
It is the second time Merkel has publicly criticized Merz this year, even though both are members of the ruling center-right Christian Democratic Union party. Three weeks before voters went to the polls, she criticized Merz's decision to rely on the votes of far-right politicians to pass an anti-immigration motion in parliament.
Merz, for his part, has often criticized Merkel for welcoming hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to Germany in 2015 and has since steered his party to the right, particularly on migration.
Their relationship has long been strained. Merz retreated to the backbenches of the CDU in the early 2000s after losing a power struggle with Merkel, a more centrist candidate. He then spent a decade in the private sector, returning to politics only after Merkel resigned as CDU leader in 2018.
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