Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz on Wednesday firmly rejected Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s offer for further cross-party talks on migration policy.
Merz also angrily denied Scholz’s claims that he had staged the failure of the most recent round of negotiations on Tuesday evening to score political points.
Scholz accused Merz of “sloganism” and of refusing to actually negotiate on serious issues facing the country, preferring instead to engage in political posturing and boasting.
Merz denied this and called the accusation “disgraceful.”
But Merz said the policies presented by Scholz’s government on Tuesday fell far short of what is needed to limit migration into the country.
“And that is why we are not going to talk to you endlessly,” says Merz.
According to Merz, Scholz’s government should instead submit a series of concrete proposals to parliament for public debate.