Merkel’s would-be successor questions Germany’s sacrosanct asylum pledge
Berlin — A conservative running to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as head of their party has raised an outcry by questioning Germany’s constitutional guarantee of asylum that was enshrined to atone for World War 2 Nazi crimes. Germany’s “Grundgesetz” (Basic Law) assures asylum to all “politically persecuted” — a simpler pledge in the past when it covered a handful of Soviet dissidents during the Cold War than now when millions seek sanctuary in Europe from war and poverty. This might have to change, would-be Merkel successor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday evening on the campaign trail in Thuringia, an eastern state where hostility towards immigrants helped propel the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to second place in the 2017 national election. “We must be prepared to discuss the constitutional right to asylum if we seriously want a European immigration and refugee policy,” he said to applause from local party delegates. Merz said Germany’s constitutional guarantee was “...
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