Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued rare public criticism of her successor as the country’s center-right leader, the front-runner in Germany’s election next month, for putting to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that only passed with the help of a far-right party.

The German Bundestag passed Friedrich Merz's so-called five-point migration plan — which promised a dramatic tightening of the country's migration and asylum law — through parliament. MPs narrowly voted in favour of turning away asylum seekers and other migrants back at Germany's borders — despite criticism that this could break both German and EU asylum law.

German election frontrunner Friedrich Merz succeeded on Wednesday in getting a motion passed in parliament that calls for a migration crackdown including the rejection of asylum seekers at the country's land borders.

With less than four weeks before Germany’s federal election, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls, will take their contentious battle over how to crack down on illegal migration to parliament.

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized her centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) for passing a motion in parliament calling for hard-line reforms to migration policy with the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s main challenger in Germany’s upcoming election plans to put proposals for a tougher migration policy to parliament