SPD co-chair Lars Klingbeil has blasted the CDU’s push for stricter border controls, rejecting what he calls “de facto border closures.” Speaking on ARD’s Maischberger on March 5, he warned that such measures would violate European agreements and send the wrong message amid growing global instability.
“The SPD won’t support shutting borders—it’s neither legal nor practical,” Klingbeil declared, taking aim at CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s pledge to block illegal entries on day one of his potential chancellorship. The CDU’s Bundestag motion—backed by the right-wing AfD—sparked outrage from the Left, which accused them of breaking a long-standing commitment to avoid cooperation with the far right.
Klingbeil also took a swipe at the CDU/CSU’s fiscal policies, pointing out their apparent U-turn on debt. Despite running on a platform of financial discipline, they’ve now embraced nearly €1 trillion in new borrowing. “The real negotiations are just beginning,” he said, as discussions on pensions and low-income family support loom.
Meanwhile, he criticized CSU leader Markus Söder’s attacks on the Greens, after Söder mocked outgoing economic minister Robert Habeck and celebrated the party’s exclusion from power. But Klingbeil reminded him that Green support is crucial for constitutional changes to Germany’s debt brake.
Adding to the drama, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel lashed out at Merz, accusing him of betraying voters by abandoning migration reform and embracing debt. “This is the biggest voter fraud in Germany’s history,” she declared on March 6.
