Germany should copy Britain’s Rwanda policy for migrants, says leader of Angela Merkel’s CDU party, as he insists Berlin and Brussels are partly responsible for Brexit as they refuse to make more concessions

Germany should copy Britain’s Rwanda policy to deter asylum seekers from Europe, the current leader of Angela Merkel’s CDU party has said.

Friedrich Merz, who has been at the helm of the Christian Democrats Union (CDU) since 2022, said he was “firmly convinced” the controversial policy would work, adding that Germany should “emulate it ‘ because it ‘would be a signal that we just don’t accept everyone here.’

He told the FT: ‘Just the prospect that you won’t end up in the promised land of Germany, and that you will have to seek asylum in a third country – say Albania, if you try to enter Italy. , or Rwanda if you aim for Britain, will reduce the number of asylum seekers.’

In another sign of respect for Britain, Merz also admitted that Brussels and Berlin were partly responsible for Brexit because they failed to get David Cameron, then Prime Minister of Britain, to deliver any meaningful reforms to the EU offer in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum.

‘I remember David Cameron asking for changes in EU social policy and returning to London empty-handed.

“Continental Europeans were not entirely innocent when it came to Brexit,” he said, adding:

‘We have lost patience with the special role that Britain has always played in European politics. We have not done enough to help them achieve a different referendum result.”

Despite recent tensions, Merz said he was keen to see Britain and Germany develop a closer relationship.

“We have a plethora of options, at least in foreign and defense policy, that we must explore together.

‘We Germans have a great strategic interest in keeping Britain closely involved in Europe.’

Merz’s party has had a comfortable lead in the polls since at least August 2022.

The Rwanda policy will be one of the most important policies of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

Border Force Defender escorts 50 migrants to Dover Docks, Kent

Although there was a small spike in Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a right-wing party, support for the populists has fallen since January 2024.

Polling data collected by Politico shows that the CDU currently has a 12-point lead over the AfD.

The CDU will soon approve a new party manifesto, the first time since 2007.

‘We are a conservative party again. The CDU was always Christian-social, liberal and conservative at the same time. But recently we have rather shamefully hidden the conservative part. Now we say it out loud.’

Nevertheless, he rejected his critics’ idea that he was deviating from Angela Merkel’s well-known centrist position, claiming that the new program was “a commitment to the fundamental values ​​and principles that have sustained us for more than fifty years of post-war Germany.”