BERLIN — With Germany’s election less than a month away, center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz has thrown cold water on the prospect of reviving the country’s traditional grand coalition — bluntly declaring that he “can’t trust” conservative leader Friedrich Merz anymore.

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.

Polls show conservative leader Friedrich Merz’s Union leading ahead of the Feb. 23 election with around 30% support, while AfD is second with about 20%.

Friedrich Merz, the front-runner to become Germany’s next chancellor, relied on votes from the far-right AfD to push an anti-migration motion through parliament.

The CDU party chief, who leads in the polls to become the next chancellor, said he would collect votes from all parties to push his five-point migration plan through parliament despite Chancellor Olaf Scholz's strong opposition.

Chancellor Scholz says rival Merz joining forces with far-right party in parliament to introduce stricter migration legislation ahead of Feb. 23 elections - Anadolu Ajansı

Germany’s parliament has narrowly approved a call by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s main challenger to turn back many more migrants at the country’s borders, with the help of a far-right party.

Two German parties, the AfD and CDU, find common ground on asylum seeker crisis. Does this signal a possible coalition government of the two?

Shugaban gwamnatin Jamus kum adan takarar jam'iyyar SPD a zaben gabanin wa'adi, ya caccaki abokin hamyyarsa na CDU mai adawa Friedrich Merz, kan manufofinsa na kulla kawance da jam'iyyar masu kyamar baki ta AfD.

Germany’s opposition leader says his party will bring motions to toughen migration policy to parliament next week in one of its last sessions before the country’s election

Germany’s likely next chancellor wants tougher migration measures even with AfD support, triggering a fierce pre-election debate.

Germany's ex-chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in Thursday on a controversy flaring ahead of February elections, slamming her party successor for relying on far-right support on the flashpoint issue