The German interior minister believes mass migration has become “the mother of all political problems” for the EU country, while Angela Merkel is describing the third world influx merely as a “challenge” and slamming protests against alleged killer migrants as “hate”.

Asked about the decline in popularity of Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and his related Christian Social Union (CSU) party, Horst Seehofer said Merkel’s decision to throw Germany’s borders open was a major driver behind the growth of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“For the first time, we have a party to the right of the Union that could establish itself in the medium term amidst a divided country,” he told the Rheinische Post, as polls show the AfD now in second place behind the CDU/CSU bloc.

PICTURES: Protesters Stage ‘Mourning March’ in Chemnitz for Victims of Killer Migrants https://t.co/nrMjjZgPyh — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 2, 2018

The eurosceptic AfD’s dramatic ascent is “not only” down to voter concern over mass migration, said Seehofer, “but the migration issue is the mother of all political problems in this country. I have been saying this for three years. And this is confirmed by many surveys.”

Speaking of events in Chemnitz, where the murder of 35-year-old German-Cuban Daniel Hillig, allegedly at the hands of asylum seekers, prompted large-scale demonstrations against migration policy in Germany, the CSU heavyweight said he understood the “outrage” felt following the “brutal homicide”.

“Were I not a minister, I too would have taken to the streets as a citizen — of course not with any of the radicals,” Seehofer stated, before stressing that authorities should show “zero tolerance” to individuals who “incite violence” or perform “Hitler salutes”.

Responding to the question of whether there was anything the government could have done to prevent Hillig’s death, Seehofer — who has taken a much tougher line on illegal migration than the Chancellor — noted one of the suspects had two prior criminal convictions, asserting he should never have been allowed to enter having already sought asylum in Bulgaria before entering Germany.

German Support for Merkel Bloc Plummets to 12-Year Low https://t.co/CSFtstGwWD — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 30, 2018

Merkel, meanwhile, distanced herself from the Bavarian leader’s position on the case in an interview with RTL, where she told the broadcaster she would say only “that the question of migration poses challenges”.

The globalist German figurehead, who had issued what Deutsche Welle described as “a clear-cut and uncharacteristically forceful” condemnation of the protests against migrant violence, on Wednesday met with the Czech Republic’s prime minister, who restated his differences with Merkel over Europe’s approach to the so-called migrant crisis.

Andrej Babiš, a billionaire tycoon who has been branded a ‘Czech Trump’ by some in the media, earlier this week slammed the German Chancellor’s open borders approach to mass migration, branding it a “threat to European civilisation”.

“Chemnitz is around the corner” if Europe’s borders are not protected, he warned national television in Prague, referencing the demonstrations in Germany.

“We do not want to live here in Africa or the Middle East. We have to stop [immigration from these places],” stated the Czech leader.