Germany Merz repeats "cityscape" remark on migration policy
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vehemently defended and underlined his controversial comments on the cityscape in connection with migration policy.
20.10.2025, 12:35
SDA
"I have nothing to take back," said the head of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) in response to a question from journalists after a closed meeting of the party's executive committee in Berlin. Merz added: "On the contrary, I emphasize it once again: we have to change something about it, and the Federal Minister of the Interior is in the process of changing something about it, and we will continue this policy."
The conservative head of government was asked by a reporter at an appointment in Potsdam on Tuesday about the rise of the right-wing populist AfD. In response, he said, among other things, that previous failures in migration policy were being corrected and progress was being made. "But of course we still have this problem in the cityscape, and that is why the Federal Minister of the Interior is also in the process of facilitating and carrying out repatriations on a very large scale."
Merz began by emphasizing that anyone with daughters would probably receive "a pretty clear and unequivocal answer" to the question of what he meant by his comments.
In response to a journalist's subsequent question about a demonstration in Berlin last night, where hundreds of people marched under the slogan "Brandmauer hoch! We are the cityscape" for diversity and against racism, Merz said that he had not heard anything about the demonstration because of the discussions in the CDU.
He emphasized: "Anyone who sees it from everyday life knows that I am right about the comment I made last week. It wasn't the first time I've made it, by the way, and I wasn't the only one to do so. There are many people who say that, who evaluate and judge it that way."
Merz on demonstrators: Interest in wedge in society?
"Everyone confirms that this is a problem, at the latest when night falls," said Merz. That is why the solution to this problem will have to be found. "And anyone who thinks they have to demonstrate against it should do so," added the CDU chairman, adding: "However, they are then also exposed to the question of whether they have an interest in solving a problem or whether they are more interested in possibly driving a wedge into our society."
Natalie Pawlik from the Social Democratic coalition partner SPD, the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, was among those who expressed irritation at Stadtbild's statement and said: "Migration must not be stigmatized by abbreviated or populist snap judgments - this divides society even more and ends up helping the wrong people instead of promoting solutions."
The left and the Greens had sharply criticized Merz and demanded an apology. The Chancellor received backing from his CDU and Bavarian sister party, the CSU.
