The CDU party chief, who leads in the polls to become the next chancellor, said he would collect votes from all parties to push his five-point migration plan through parliament despite Chancellor Olaf Scholz's strong opposition.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued rare public criticism of her successor as the country’s center-right leader, the front-runner in Germany’s election next month, for putting to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that only passed with the help of a far-right party.

On Wednesday, with the support of the Alternative for Germany, the Christian Democrats passed a motion on migration policy through the Bundestag which abrogates fundamental constitutional principles and European law.

Friedrich Merz’s hard-line shift on migration is a calculated gambit by the German conservative leader to neutralize the far right and deliver a breakthrough with wavering voters, according to people familiar with his thinking.

German election frontrunner Friedrich Merz succeeded on Wednesday in getting a motion passed in parliament that calls for a migration crackdown including the rejection of asylum seekers at the country's land borders.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s main challenger in Germany’s upcoming election plans to put proposals for a tougher migration policy to parliament

Germany's opposition conservatives won parliamentary approval on Wednesday for a proposal to drastically restrict migration with the help of votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), breaking a taboo on cooperation with the far-right.

With less than four weeks before Germany’s federal election, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls, will take their contentious battle over how to crack down on illegal migration to parliament.

German opposition conservative leader Friedrich Merz said he regrets that plans to reject more asylum seekers at Germany's borders may have passed in parliament on Wednesday with the help of votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).