Germany’s opposition leader has vowed to bar people from entering the country without proper papers and to step up deportations if he is elected as chancellor next month, as a knife attack by a rejected asylum-seeker spills over into an election campaign in which he is the front-runner.

Friedrich Merz, the conservative front-runner in the race for Germany’s chancellorship, called for a radical overhaul of the country’s migration policy including permanent border checks. The comments come after an asylum seeker from Afghanistan was taken into custody over a fatal stabbing of a two-year-old child and a man in a park on Wednesday.

The conservative leader wants to impose strict border controls after knife killings in Aschaffenburg this week.

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz has demanded fundamental changes to migration policy and a dramatic increase in deportations after the deadly stabbing in the southern city of Aschaffenburg.

In Germany, the fatal knife attack by a 28-year-old Afghan in Aschaffenburg has once again triggered a debate on asylum. CDU leader Friedrich Merz

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will eventually have to spend more than 2% of economic output on defence but must first reform its procurement system to get more bang for its buck, opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who is tipped to become the next chancellor, said on Thursday.

Friedrich Merz, the leading candidate for the chancellery in Germany's upcoming election, said a leaked briefing by Germany's ambassador to the United States heavily criticising Donald Trump was damaging to the German government's reputation.

However, some Germans blame the CDU, and in particular Merz’s predecessor and longtime chancellor Angela Merkel, for encouraging the large-scale influx of asylum seekers and migrants, mostly from the Middle East and Afghanistan, in 2015.

The arrest of an Afghan asylum seeker suspected of killing two people in a knife attack targeting children in a German park has prompted calls for a much tougher migration stance and fired up campaigning for Germany's Feb.

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz proposes stricter measures against illegal migration following a violent attack by an Afghan asylum seeker. His plan includes permanent border controls, halting illegal entries,

Germany's opposition leader vows to toughen migration policies following a knife attack by an asylum-seeker. He pledges to enhance deportations and control borders if elected. The current government faces criticism amid rising far-right sentiments,

German election frontrunner Friedrich Merz vowed Thursday to make "fundamental changes" to asylum law after a deadly knife attack on a kindergarten group that resulted in the arrest of an Afghan migrant.