German MPs on Friday, January 31, narrowly voted against a bill to restrict immigration proposed by the opposition conservatives with the support of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.
The CDU-CSU conservative bloc had, on Wednesday, passed a non-binding motion calling for a crackdown on immigration, with backing by the AfD – a move that has been widely criticized for breaching a long-standing political "firewall" doctrine against voting with extremist parties, which had been upheld since the Second World War.
Yet Friday's push to pass a full law failed, with 338 votes in favor, 350 votes against and five lawmakers abstaining in the Bundestag, the German legislative house.
The result was greeted by a brief burst of applause from the ruling Social Democrats and Greens, who were the biggest parties to oppose it.
The debate on the bill had been delayed for hours, to allow for last-ditch talks between the CDU-CSU and other moderate parties to find a compromise, but these failed and the vote went ahead as planned.
AfD leader Alice Weidel told reporters that the result was a "bitter defeat" for CDU leader Friedrich Merz and showed his inability to push through measures restricting immigration.