Earlier this week German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Potsdam, the capital of the eastern state of Brandenburg, on a trip that was supposed to offer some respite after a high-profile diplomatic event in Egypt, where he attended the signing of US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.
The itinerary included a boat cruise down Havel River, which connects the German capital with Potsdam, and a stop at a kindergarten. The visit was going swimmingly — until Merz gave a brief press conference, where he was asked questions about Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s tough stance on immigration and the rise of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in light of its strong approval ratings.
The party — which has been classified as partly right-wing extremist — polled at 34% in Brandenburg in late September, far ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD), who govern the state in coalition with another party.
Friedrich Merz’s ‘cityscape’ remark has sparked considerable criticsmImage: Britta Pedersen/dpa/picture alliance
In an approving tone, Merz said the number of refugees fleeing to Germany had fallen since he took office in May, “but we still have this problem in the cityscape, and that is why the interior minister is working to carry out large-scale deportations.”
Furious opposition over ‘racist’ remarks
What did Merz mean by “problem in the cityscape”? Was he referring to cities afflicted by housing shortages and high unemployment, or was he in fact referring to urban neighborhoods with large immigrant populations, which are more diverse than Germany’s rural areas?
Though unclear, his wording has drawn fierce criticism from Germany’s opposition parties, and even some members of his own center-right Christian Democrat (CDU) party.
The German Press Agency reported Friday that dozens of politicians from the opposition Green party have demanded in a letter to Merz a public apology for the “racist, discriminatory, hurtful and indecent” remarks to those affected by racism and marginalization.
“They are here in the first, second or third generation, yet you deny them their German-ness and their belonging to Germany — simply
because of their appearance, their origin or their name,” the letter said.
Green Party leader Felix Banaszak lambasted Merz for his ‘cityscape’ remarkImage: Jens Thurau/DW
Green Party leader Felix Banaszak said “if the chancellor infers the need for further deportations from a cityscape, then he is sending an alarming message, adding that making such claims was disrespectful and dangerous.
Sören Pellmann, leader of the socialist Left Party parliamentary group, urged Merz to apologize. “The obvious slip in your wording was not only misplaced — it has driven another thorn into our democracy.”
Saxony state premier backs Merz
Other politicians voiced support for Merz, among them Saxony’s state premier Michael Kretschmer, who is also a member of the CDU.
“The newspapers report countless acts of violence,” Kretschmer said, adding that there are “people who we then discover are actually required to leave the country.” He said it was not enough to reduce the number of people arriving in Germany, but that efforts should be made to “enforce our standards, our values.”
Was Merz, as Kretschmer seemingly implied, specifically talking about the many people who have arrived in Germany since 2015, many of whom hailed from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq?
How migration to Germany changed after 2015 refugee arrivals
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Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, likewise a member of Merz’s CDU, has often clashed with the chancellor. He told German daily Tagesspiegel: “Berlin is a diverse, international and cosmopolitan city. This will always be reflected in the cityscape.”
While Wegner said Berlin definitely had problems with “violence, litter and crime,” pinning any of these problems on a single nationality was wrong.
Government deflects criticism
On Wednesday, German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius sought to assuage critics, saying “I think you’re reading too much into this, the chancellor has expressed support for the new government’s new stance on migration, though he was speaking in his role of party chairman, by the way, which he made explicitly clear.”
Merz, after all, not only leads the German coalition government but also heads the conservative CDU party. Kornelius also said Merz had always made it clear that migration laws should not be about excluding people but about properly regulating immigration.
Did Merz deliberately use the term “cityscape,” or did it just slip out? In any case, Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), a sister party of the CDU, also used the term when he gave an interview to Münchner Merkur newspaper at the end of September, saying Germany should ramp of deportations to Afghanistan and Syria for a change in the German “cityscape.”
This article was originally written in German.
