BERLIN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Jens Spahn, the German health minister and one of the candidates to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader, has rejected controversial proposals to remove the individual right to asylum from his country's constitution on Thursday.
"Against the background of two world wars, great suffering and displacement, the basic right to asylum for politically persecuted individuals is a significant achievement of our constitution", Spahn wrote on the short messaging service Twitter.
The comments were widely interpreted in German media as an attempt by the health minister to distance himself from his party leadership competitor Friedrich Merz on the subject. On Wednesday night, Merz had openly questioned during a regional CDU conference in Seebach, Thuringia whether the German right to asylum could be maintained.
"I have held the opinion for a while that we must be ready to talk openly about this asylum basic right, whether it can continue to exist in the current form if we seriously want a European immigration- and refugee policy", Merz, a former finance industry executive, said. He highlighted that Germany was the only country in the world which enshrined an individual right to asylum in its constitution.
The conference in Seebach was one of eight town-hall-style meetings which are being held across the country in the run-up to the actual CDU leadership vote in December. The events are intended to allow the party base to gain familiarity with the views and personality of the candidates who have declared an intention to replace Merkel in the post which she has by now held for over 18 years.
Alongside CDU secretary general Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Spahn and Merz are regularly cited as having the most promising prospects in the race.
Compared to Merz and Kramp-Karrenbauer, Spahn is traditionally known for his hard-line views on immigration. Nevertheless, the 38-year-old called for public acceptance of the "important basic right" to asylum to be preserved on Friday by ensuring that that European Union (EU) external borders were protected effectively and processing asylum applications swiftly.
According to Spahn, the main problem with the basic right to asylum was that it was "abused too often", leading to uncontrolled migration. "We must finally enforce the law here", he added.
