'Mini-Merkel' calls for Syrian migrants to be returned home as CDU leadership rivals jostle for position

One of the frontrunners to succeed Angela Merkel as leader of her political party has called for Germany to deport migrants to Syria. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said asylum-seekers whose claims are rejected or who commit crimes could be returned to the war-torn country. 'Certain regions of Syria could be secure enough in the foreseeable future,' she told Bild newspaper. Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer, popularly known in Germany as 'mini-Merkel', is widely seen as Mrs Merkel's preferred successor. But she has been at pains to distance herself from the chancellor's controversial migrant policy in her bid for the leadership of the Christian Democrat party (CDU). Germany currently bans deportationsto Syria because of the situation there. The German foreign ministry is set to reassess the policy by the end of this month, but an internal memo leaked to the German press warns: 'It is extremely challenging to get first-hand reliable information about the situation in the country." The German embassy in Damascus is currently closed and the country is deemed too dangerous for diplomats to visit. Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer's comments are a clear attempt to avoid being seen as a Merkel continuity candidate in the race for the CDU leadership. She has also called for asylum-seekers who commit crimes in Germany to be barred from the entire Schengen Area. Mrs Merkel will step down as party leader in December but says she wants to see out her current term as chancellor, which ends in 2021. Runners and riders to succeed Angela Merkel Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer currently has a narrow leadwith the general electorate, according to opinion polls, but the new leader will be chosen by delegates at the CDU party conference in December. As Mr Kramp-Karrenbauer strives to avoid being see as too close to Mrs Merkel, her closest competitor is working equally hard not to be seen as too close to the populist Right. Friedrich Merz, who is just behind her in the opinion polls, went on the attack against the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD), describing them as 'openly Nazi'. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's career, in pictures Mr Merz, a 63-year-old former rival of Mrs Merkel, is the preferred candidate of the CDU's conservative wing and widely expected to shift the party to a more Right-wing course if he wins. But he went out of his way to establish clear space between his vision for the CDU and the AfD in an interview with German radio in which he vowed never to go into coalition with the populists. 'A party that is openly National Socialist and has anti-Semitic undertones is not a partner,' he said. 'There will be no dramatic shift Right under me,' he said, insisting that the CDU will remaina 'party of the centre'. The AfD descrived Mr Merz's comments as 'monstrous'. 'We will not stoop to such a shabby level,' Jrg Meuthen, the party's deputy leader said.
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