The German centre-right CDU/CSU alliance has vowed to get tough on immigration and spend more on the army and defence if it wins the next parliamentary elections.
Following the collapse of the country’s left-liberal coalition government, and with the prospect of snap elections being called at the beginning of next year, the CDU/CSU is on course to form the next cabinet, as it is currently leading the opinion polls with 34%.
In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the CDU party’s general secretary Carsten Linnemann said they would significantly reduce state benefits, and scrap benefits altogether for those who are capable of working but choose not to.
“We generally need to provide more incentives” so that “work in Germany is viewed more positively,” Linnemann said, adding that pensioners who want to continue working voluntarily should be allowed to earn around €2,000 tax-free.
He said €10 billion could be saved every year by reducing state benefits, including for refugees from Ukraine, and another €10 billion with a stricter migration policy. “The bottom line is that we have to get towards €50 billion and more, on the one hand, to guarantee the country’s defence capability, and on the other, to relieve those who carry the burden in this country,” Linnemann added.
The CDU/CSU alliance has been advocating for a tougher asylum policy. They said the recent decision by the left-liberal government to reintroduce temporary border checks and the adoption of a security package did not go far enough in tackling illegal migration. The centre-right alliance wants to see migrants who are not eligible for asylum in Germany turned back at the border.
The liberal FDP party, which was ousted from the government due to disagreements over the budget, had also previously demanded a U-turn on Germany’s lax migration policies.
Migration has become a hot topic even among establishment parties this year after a series of knife attacks and terrorist attacks committed by migrants, many of whom turned out to be failed asylum seekers who for one reason or another were allowed to stay in the country.
Not surprisingly, both the right-wing anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party and the left-wing nationalist Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) performed strongly in recent regional elections in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg.
The AfD party is currently polling in second place at 18%, while the BSW is at 6%.
The government parties are expected to suffer serious losses at the next Bundestag elections, following three years of economic mismanagement, the incompetent handling of the migration crisis, and a wave of aggressive climate and woke policies.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats are polling at 16% (a drop of ten points compared to the elections in 2021), the Greens are at 12% (a three-point decrease), and the FDP would be lucky to get the 5% needed to enter parliament.
Snap elections could be scheduled for March, but the CDU/CSU has urged the chancellor to hold a vote of confidence as soon as possible, so that elections could be held before March. “We simply cannot afford to have a government without a majority in Germany for several months and then have an election campaign and possibly several weeks of coalition negotiations. This has to happen quickly now,” CDU leader Friedrich Merz said.
Some 65% of Germans surveyed support an immediate call for elections, while 33% said they agree with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s intention to hold them in March.
