Elisabeth Dampier

Germany is heading towards an immigration catastrophe

The German Social Democratic party (SPD) has published its working paper on immigration. It calls for half a million more migrants every year, no deportation of illegal immigrants unless they are extremely violent, voting rights for foreigners, automatic citizenship after 25 years, and a new ministry for immigration and integration.

You would think the left-wing party was in no position to make demands. After all, the SPD led the coalition government which lost the last election, when it failed to be one of the top two parties for the first time since the 19th century. But the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, which won the most votes in the election, has ruled out dealing with Alternative for Germany (AfD), which came second. That has left them with only one potential coalition partner to form a government: the SPD.

So the CDU is negotiating with the very people who led Germany to disaster after disaster over the last few years.

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