Albrecht Weinberg ‘horrified’ that MPs relied on far-right party to pass anti-immigration motion

A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor has said he will return his federal order of merit to the German president in protest over MPs passing an anti-immigration motion in parliament with the support of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.

Albrecht Weinberg, whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz, told the Guardian he was “horrified” on learning that a proposal submitted by the conservative parties had relied on the anti-immigrant, xenophobic AfD to get it over the line.

Ex-chancellor makes rare intervention to criticise her own party for passing asylum policy with support of AfD

The former German chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised Friedrich Merz, her eventual successor as leader of the country’s conservatives, for pushing through proposals on migration and asylum with the backing of the far-right AfD party.

In a rare intervention in public affairs since stepping down from politics in December 2021, Merkel said Merz, who is tipped to become Germany’s next chancellor, had in effect performed a U-turn.

Opposition leader Friedrich Merz accused of breaking longstanding political firewall against far-right populists

The leader of Germany’s conservative opposition has been backed in his controversial plans to restrict migration by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, in what Olaf Scholz branded “an unforgivable mistake.”

Friedrich Merz was accused by Scholz’s minority government of breaking a longstanding political firewall against the far-right populists. He had presented two non-binding motions to parliament, aimed at boosting security measures and closing all of Germany’s land borders to irregular migration.