Dresden (dpa / sn) - The majority of the CDU in the district council of Bautzen approved a motion by the AfD on refugee policy and is therefore heavily criticized. While CDU District Administrator Udo Witschas defended the decision on Wednesday, representatives of the Left, SPD Greens and the CDU parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament distanced themselves. Greens domestic politician Valentin Lippman saw the joint voting behavior as proof that the supposed "fire wall against the right" does not exist in the CDU. State and national leadership of the CDU would have to ensure that such a firewall exists.
Sören Voigt, parliamentary manager of the CDU in the state parliament, criticized the behavior of his party friends in Bautzen. "From our point of view it is clear that there is no cooperation with the AfD." District administrator Wischas saw it differently. "Basically, as an elected district administrator, it is irrelevant to me who submits an application in the district council. The content of an application is not automatically wrong just because it does not come from your own parliamentary group."
The decision of the district council is about the revision of guidelines for the integration of refugees. According to this, foreign nationals should no longer receive integration benefits if they are obliged to leave the country. Exceptions to this should apply to people with a clarified identity and to those who have made intensive efforts to integrate, it said.
