Germany's parliament narrowly rejects immigration law amid controversy over far-right support

The German parliament narrowly rejected on Friday a bill sponsored by conservatives and the far right calling for stricter rules on immigration. Opposition leader Friedrich Merz said the new law was a necessary response to a series of high-profile killings in public spaces by people of immigrant background.

The German parliament narrowly rejected on Friday an opposition-sponsored bill calling for tougher rules on migration that risked becoming the first draft legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party and became a focus of a controversy about the attitude of the front-runner in Germany’s upcoming election toward the far right.

Opposition leader Friedrich Merz has put demands for a more restrictive approach to migration at the center of his campaign for the Feb. 23 election since a deadly knife attack last week by a rejected asylum-seeker.

The way he has done so prompted opponents to accuse him of breaking a taboo and endangering mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the far-right Alternative for Germany. He insists his position is unchanged and that he didn’t and won’t work with the party.

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After an unusually heated debate delayed by long and unsuccessful negotiations on a compromise between mainstream parties, it was rejected by 350 votes to 338, with five abstentions. Some lawmakers cheered and clapped as the result was announced.


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