FORMER German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed her successor as the Christian Democratic Union leader, the frontrunner in Germany’s election next month, for putting to parliament proposals for draconian new migration rules that only passed with the help of a far-right party.

Germany’s current governing parties have cast doubt on whether conservative leader Friedrich Merz can still be trusted not to bring the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) into government after Wednesday’s events.

Mr Merz put a non-binding motion calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders to a vote, knowing it would need AfD’s votes to pass. 

Mr Merz says Germany has had a “misguided asylum and immigration policy” for a decade — since Ms Merkel allowed large numbers of Syrian refugees into the country.

The motion passed by 348 votes to 345, with 10 abstentions, after a combination of opposition parties backed it — including the 75 AfD lawmakers. 

Far-right lawmakers applauded the result, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, said it was a “historic” day and that “for the first time in the German parliament, a motion has been passed with a majority that was ensured by the AfD.

“This is a bad sign. For the parliament. And also for our country.”

Mr Merz said that if he becomes chancellor, he would order the Interior Ministry to immediately “turn back all attempts at illegal entry without exception,” including by asylum-seekers. 

Ms Merkel noted in a rare statement that Mr Merz had said in November that no measures should be passed with AfD’s support before the February 23 election.

She said she supported that position, but “I think it was wrong no longer to feel committed to this proposal and to enable with open eyes for the first time a majority with votes from AfD in a vote in the German parliament.”