Germany's Die Linke Lawmaker Slams Interior Minister Over Migration Policy

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Dietmar Bartsch, the chair of the Bundestag group of Die Linke party, spoke of German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer that he would "deport Jesus" amid the Wednesday parliamentary discussion of migration policy agreed by Seehofer's Christian Social Union (CSU) and Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).

"You would have deported Jesus with the same smile," Bartsch told Seehofer, as quoted by the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Earlier this week, CDU and CSU agreed to turn away asylum seekers at the German-Austrian border if they had already filed asylum applications in other states, to set up transit centers, which would allow to speed up deportations, and to seek a bilateral deal with Austria on migration.

READ MORE: CDU/CSU Migrant Deal Unlikely to Become Gain for Seehofer, Merkel — Politicians

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Tuesday Austria would work to protect itself and its population if Berlin officially adopted this policy. In particular, Vienna might introduce new measures at the border, especially in the south.

Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache said there would be no support for the deal solving Germany's problems "at the expense of Austria."

The two allied parties, which together form half of the government coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), faced an internal crisis over the weekend as Seehofer threatened to resign both as a minister and as the head of the CSU over migration policy disagreement. The deal still requires the approval of SPD, which rejected setting up transit centers in the past.