Germany is facing one of the greatest political upheavals in its modern history. Polls indicate that the ruling coalition would gain only a third of the vote between its three parties if an election were to be held now. Meanwhile the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has emerged as the second most popular party. With concerns about immigration one of the hot topic issues, Scholz’s government is now considering a Rwanda-style plan to process asylum claims in partner states outside of the EU.
Much is at stake. If it works, it will be a sea change on immigration policy that will affect the entire EU bloc. If it fails or appears to be dismissed out of hand, it will strengthen the hand of the AfD further who will be able to claim that the mainstream parties’ promise to deal with voters’ concerns is nothing but hot air.
For Scholz and his party, immigration remains difficult to handle
How serious this issue is can easily be gleaned from statistics.
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