German priorities: Christians, ‘socially integrated’ Muslims

Christian migrants should be given priority over non-Christians in moving to Germany and Islamic face veils should be banned, say German chancellor Angela Merkel’s political allies.

The Christian Social Union (CSU), which works alongside Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, has demanded the tougher immigration rules and also said that new arrivals must socially integrate and learn German.

The German chancellor has long advocated an open doors policy to migrants with her country welcoming more than one million asylum seekers last year.

But the CSU, which has long and fervently attacked her liberal stance, plan to present their proposals for new migrants at a meeting tomorrow.

‘Germany must stay Germany,’ declared the five page paper seen by global news agency AFP.

‘We are against our welcoming country being changed through migration and waves of refugees.’

A mass influx like the one seen a year ago, when tens of thousands of refugees a day entered Germany through Bavaria, ‘must under no circumstances be repeated,’ it argued.

The party also reiterated its long-standing opposition to admitting Turkey to the EU, or granting its citizens eased visa conditions to the bloc as part of a deal to halt the refugee flows to Europe.

The move comes days after the right-wing populist and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) beat Merkel’s party in a state vote.

Merkel, whose long-stellar approval ratings have taken a dive amid the refugee crisis, has warned all political parties against a race to the bottom where they adopt the xenophobic rhetoric of the anti-Islam AfD.

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