BERLIN — Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized the migration policy of incumbent Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday as a threat to freedom of movement in the EU.

“We have to focus on external [EU] border protection, everything else will ultimately cost us, if it becomes permanent, the freedom of movement within the European Union,” Merkel said of Merz’s new border policy, which would turn away migrants at Germany’s borders within the bloc.

“I’m arguing for European solutions, because otherwise we could see Europe being ruined, and I don’t want that, and I hope that the new federal government doesn’t want that either,” the former German leader said at an event. “I assume it doesn’t.”

In the run-up to Germany’s Feb. 23 snap election, Merz promised to crack down on migration on his “first day” in office. Less than 24 hours after being sworn in, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced stricter border controls that would see more migrants rejected from entering Germany, including asylum-seekers. Legal scholars, Germany’s left-leaning opposition parties and its neighbors all say the new policy violates European law.

“I don’t believe that we can combat illegal migration at the German-Austrian or German-Polish border,” Merkel said. “I have always advocated European solutions, and the truth is that it takes forever and a very long time.”

It’s the second time Merkel has publicly criticized Merz this year, even though both are members of the center-right ruling Christian Democratic Union party. Three weeks before voters went to the polls she slammed Merz’s decision to rely on votes from far-right politicians to pass an anti-immigration motion in parliament.

Merz, for his part, has often criticized Merkel for welcoming hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to Germany in 2015 and has since steered his party to the right, especially on migration.

Their relationship has long been fraught. Merz withdrew to the CDU backbenches in the early 2000s after losing a power struggle with the more centrist Merkel. He then spent a decade in the private sector, only returning to politics after Merkel stepped down as CDU leader in 2018.