Reactions – even from the ranks of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) – are caused by the expression “problem in the urban landscape” that Chancellor Friedrich Merz used to describe the situation with immigrants in Germany.

During a press conference he gave on Tuesday night in Potsdam, Brandenburg, the chancellor, in response to a question about immigration policy, said that “we have come a long way”, before adding: “Of course we still have this problem in the urban landscape and that is why the interior minister is now in the process of returns on a very large scale.”

Green group leader Katharina Drege called the statement “biased” and “obscene” and said she would expect Mr Merz to make amends in his speech to the Bundestag today. “The fact that he offended so many people divides society and hurts Germany.

It’s time for more decency. Take back that statement,” said Mrs. Drege to Friedrich Mertz. The leader of her party, Felix Balaszczak, told the German news agency dpa that “if the Chancellor comes to conclusions about the necessity of further deportations from an urban landscape, then he sends a fatal message, which is disrespectful, dangerous and unworthy of a Chancellor, to question whether people with immigration background really belong in Germany – even if they were born here, live here, work here and pay taxes here.”

Defending the chancellor, Christian Union (CDU/CSU) Parliamentary Group leader Jens Spahn replied to Ms Drege: “I don’t know which part of Germany you travel to, but in the central train stations and markets of this country the consequences of illegal immigration are certainly visible. They worry the world and of course we have to talk about what this means in Germany”.

Berlin’s ruling mayor, Kai Wegner, who also belongs to the CDU, intervened in the public debate: “Berlin is a diverse, international and cosmopolitan city and this will always be reflected in the urban landscape. There are problems with violence, littering and crime, but they cannot be attributed to any nationality,” Mr. Wegner told the Tagesspigel newspaper.

On the Social Democratic Party (SPD) side, the party’s Berlin mayoral candidate in the 2026 state election Steffen Krach accused Mr Merz of imitating Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Zender, who had recently used the same expression, calling for more deportations “in order to change the urban landscape”. The fact that after Marcus Zender the chancellor also makes such a statement leaves me speechless, he said.

The Left Member of Parliament Ferat Kocak spoke of “immense racism” and characterized the Chancellor’s statement as “extremely dangerous”. In a similar incident in 2017, Angela Merkel stated that she herself could not distinguish on the street who are immigrants and who are not.