German opposition leader Friedrich Merz said he expects Chancellor Olaf Scholz to work with him to tighten migration policy, days after a deadly knife attack by a Syrian man who had evaded deportation.
Three people were killed and eight others wounded, four of them seriously, during a stabbing spree at a festival on Friday evening in the western city of Solingen.
The suspected perpetrator – a 26-year-old Syrian man who has been remanded in custody – was supposed to have been deported to Bulgaria last year after his request for asylum in Germany had been rejected.
Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), met with Scholz on Tuesday.
Afterwards, he called for comprehensive measures to curb irregular migration and that Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats should cooperate with the CDU to achieve this.
The chancellor did not immediately express approval but did agree that he would consider it and give a prompt response, Merz said.
“I could imagine a result but I did not count on it or even hope for it,” Merz said. He expects the chancellor to provide an answer within the next few days.
“This is the opposition’s offer to the government, or at least to parts of the government, that are willing to cooperate here.”
He added that an agreement should be reached by the first week of the next Bundestag session, Germany’s lower house of parliament, which begins on September 9.
Credit: DPA
