During an hour-long interview on the Caren Miosga show on Germany's public broadcaster ARD on Sunday evening (April 13), Germany's chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz highlighted further details of the incoming government's plans regarding immigration and asylum.

"There has been a lot of change in Europe. Many attempts [at change] failed in Germany however in recent years. Going forward, this will no longer be the case," said the 69-year-old politician, whose Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party won the most votes in the federal election held on February 23, 2025.

Merz's CDU along with its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, unveiled the coalition deal they reached with the Social Democrats (SPD) less than a week ago, with a strong focus on reshaping Germany's immigration policies.

Read AlsoGermany: New coalition government to tighten migration and citizenship policy

Tighter border controls 'from day one'

In the 144-page coalition agreement document, the so-called grand coalition announced the introduction of tighter controls on Germany's borders in order to be able to turn back those who might have already started an asylum claim elsewhere in the EU, but might be hoping to start a new claim in Germany, something that is not technically allowed under EU rules.

Merz's plan to introduce permanent border checks and effectively ban all irregular entries into the country was already been viewed with widespread skepticism in the run-up to the vote; however, Germany's likely next leader argued that since Germany is surrounded entirely by safe countries, potential asylum seekers should lodge their claims in those countries, or even earlier in their migration journeys.

The conservative leader said that Germany will enact policies "on day one" of his chancellorship — which is likely to begin on May 6 — to force people trying to enter the country using irregular means to turn around.

At the moment, only people without a valid visa or a residence permit can be rejected at Germany's borders; extending this to include asylum seekers is regarded as a controversial and legally questionable issue, as EU law states that each member state is obliged to examine an asylum request, even if it does decide to defer the matter to another EU state eventually.

In the television interview on ARD, Merz repeated that Germany will carry out these policies "in mutual agreement with its neighboring countries," adding that he has been in touch with the leaders of several neighboring EU states, including France, Denmark and Poland, to discuss this.

According to Merz, Germany's tougher stance on migration has been welcomed by several other EU countries, which he says is proof that Europe needs a sea change in the direction of migration control issues.

In the television interview, Merz was, however, also asked about Austria and its reluctance in particular to accept rejected migrants from Germany back at its borders, to which the likely next chancellor only replied that he felt confident that "Austria is as interested in solving the overall issue [of irregular migration] as we are."

"There will then also be corresponding effects at the other end," he added, saying that if migrants and their smugglers learn that they will "no longer be passed around within Europe's internal borders," migration patterns will change. 

Read AlsoAustria rejects Germany's plan to turn back asylum seekers

Tougher stance on immigration despite fewer asylum cases

Merz's offensive against immigration, however, appears to be somewhat at odds with the reality of overall asylum trends in Germany:

Fewer than 230,000 initial asylum applications were lodged in Germany in 2024, marking a steep decline compared to the previous year of roughly 100,000 fewer applications. The volume of asylum requests had last dipped to such low rates in 2012.

Despite this downward trend, Merz emphasized that Germany was running out of capacity to take care of people arriving in search of protection, stressing that this was also reflective of the overall mood among voters in the country.

Read AlsoImmigration: German voters want to accept fewer refugees

He highlighted that in addition to the latest application numbers, there were about 1.2 million war refugees from Ukraine also present in Germany at the moment, saying it was pertinent to make sure that cities and communities across Germany remained in a position to "keep solving the problem."

"This is why the number [of asylum applications] will have to be reduced drastically," he added in the interview, conceding only upon repeated questioning on how many applications he would find acceptable that the number of new asylum applications needed to be brought down to under 100,000 annually if Germany's public services were to continue to function and serve people at their current capacities.

"Our cities, municipalities, schools, hospitals and our infrastructure are already overstretched," he added.

"This is why we seek to pause family reunifications. This is why we are launching a returns offensive," Merz summarized.

Read AlsoGermany: What does the future hold for migrants after announcement of new grand coalition?

Far-reaching reforms for asylum seekers

In addition to tighter border checks, the incoming chancellor said that he also wants to make sure that higher numbers of mandatory deportations are carried out. 

The coalition agreement of the incoming government says that the capacity of detention facilities for people required to leave the country will be increased, and that federal police officials will be given additional powers to detain individuals who are obligated to leave the country.

In particular, the document proposes a zero-tolerance policy towards foreigners who are deemed to be a threat to society, for example by being found guilty of being part of criminal or terrorist networks. In such cases, the new government wants to speed up deportation to countries of origin, including to places like Syria and Afghanistan where the prospect of safety for individuals might not always be easy to ascertain.

The coalition deal also envisions that family reunification permits for people with subsidiary protection in Germany will be paused in order to keep immigration numbers down. This suspension is expected to last for two years for the time being.

with dpa, EPD