The German parliament rejected an opposition draft law on tightening immigration policy on Friday, two days after the opposition conservatives were accused of breaching an agreement against cooperating with the far right for the first time.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s parliament is expected to vote Friday on an opposition bill calling for tougher rules on migration that could become the first legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party — adding to a controversy about the attitude of the front-runner in Germany’s upcoming election toward the far right.

Intensive high-level talks were under way in the German capital on Friday, hours ahead of a highly controversial planned vote on a package of migration reforms pushed by the centre-right opposition CDU/CSU bloc.

A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor said on Thursday he would return his federal order of merit award to the German state in protest over a parliamentary vote in which support from the far-right was used for the first time to secure a majority.

Germany’s conservative bloc requested a surprise recess in the lower house of parliament on Friday in a sign of the tension over plans to pass a hard-line immigration bill with backing of the far right.

Germany's conservatives doubled down Friday on allowing the far-right AfD to back their pre-election push to restrict immigration, but failed to pass a contentious bill after a day of jeers