Overview
- On the WDR/ARD show, Boris Palmer and Juso chief Philipp Türmer argued over the government’s Bürgergeld reform, migration and crime, and how to handle the AfD.
- The cabinet move reclassifying new Ukrainian arrivals under the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz drew support from Palmer, while Türmer warned it would hinder quick entry into work and create only losers.
- Palmer claimed violent crime has clearly risen and said Iraqis, Syrians and Afghans are heavily overrepresented, assertions Türmer rejected while citing Offenbach’s safety record to dispute a simple migration–crime link.
- Proposing a test of AfD “responsibility,” Palmer suggested limited participation in an eastern state under CDU safeguards, which Türmer opposed as dangerous as he backed pursuing a constitutional party ban.
- In the same broadcast, former finance minister Christian Lindner criticized Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s pension leadership and questioned the balance of burdens between younger workers and retirees.