SPD leader in Bavaria: Nahles accuses CSU "defamatory" refugee policy

Andrea Nahles has sharply criticized the CSU for its refugee policy on its summer tour through Bavaria. On the occasion of a visit to a training center of the Federal Police in Bamberg, the SPD leader spoke of a "defamatory policy" at the expense of the weakest. She specifically turned against concepts such as "asylum tourism", which CSU politicians had recently used.

The refugee policy of the SPD, as Nahles had already said on the weekend, must be characterized by "realism without resentment", differentiate itself from the hard course of the CSU and at the same time from the very liberal course of the Greens.

The SPD leader visited during her summer trip for two days Bavaria. In the middle of October, a new state parliament is elected in the Free State. From Nahles' point of view, the appearance of the CSU on the voters is a deterrent, she said in view of the current surveys: According to the current state, the ruling CSU must expect bitter losses.

Bad values ​​also for the SPD

However, the forecasts also look bad for the SPD. According to a recent poll, the Social Democrats could end up in third place with just 13 percent, behind CSU and Greens, and only just ahead of the AFD. In the state election 2013, the SPD in Bavaria had reached 21 percent.

Refugee policy has hitherto been the dominant topic in the run-up to the state elections. CSU politicians such as the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer set on a hard course, which has earned them much criticism and the charge of populism - especially since their appearance in the Bund in the meantime triggered a severe government crisis.

Söder finally stated that he did not want to use the word "asylum tourism" anymore "if it hurts someone". Seehofer, on the other hand, was particularly noticed when he was amused to see that on his 69th birthday, 69 people were deported to Afghanistan. Shortly before, however, CDU and CSU had agreed on a compromise in the asylum dispute. A few days later, Seehofer finally presented his "Migration Master Plan".