Germany's new government vows tougher border controls once Merz takes office

The incoming German government of Friedrich Merz said it will tighten and expand border controls in an effort to combat irregular immigration.

Germany's new government intends to tighten migration policy and reject undocumented asylum seekers at the country's borders as soon as Friedrich Merz is sworn in as chancellor next week, his incoming chief of staff said on Wednesday.Thorsten Frei, the next head of the Chancellery, said the stricter rules would apply from 6 May — although it remains to be seen whether there will be pushback from Brussels due to potential conflicts with European law. "Anyone who tries to enter Germany illegally must expect that the German border will be the end of the road from 6 May," Frei said. The government will "expand and intensify identity checks at the German borders from day one", he told the Funke Media Group.Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) on Wednesday approved a deal to join a new coalition government led by Merz's centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). "No one can apply for asylum in the country of their choice," Frei said. "According to European law, this must happen where someone enters the European Union for the first time. That is almost never Germany."While Germany is technically allowed to reject individuals at its borders who lack valid documentation, there are legal limits in place, particularly regarding asylum seekers. Under EU asylum law, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the German Asylum Act, Germany is generally required to let individuals who claim asylum at its borders into the country to process their claim. Germany significantly tightened controls in September 2024, when it implemented temporary checks at all nine of its land borders in an effort to curb irregular migration. The measure, which was eventually extended, sparked the ire of Germany's neighbours including Poland, whose leader Donald Tusk claimed the move was fundamentally opposed to the principle of Europe's passport-free Schengen area. Other countries, such as Austria, have expressed reluctance to take back migrants who have been turned away from the German border. Controversial measureIt is unclear to what extent Germany's decision to uphold strict border checks and potentially turn asylum seekers away at its border will be welcomed by other countries in the bloc and the European Commission, which has previously emphasised the need for a collective and unified approach to migration. Frei announced that the incoming government was already coordinating the upcoming changes with neighbouring countries such as France, Austria and Poland. The planned change of course has already received "very broad approval", Frei claimed. The Commission did not immediately react to the announcement made by the upcoming German government. It has repeatedly said that pushbacks at the border are against EU law and urged member states to guarantee fair and equal access to the asylum process. Brussels has given Poland the green light to temporarily suspend the right to asylum, however, this exceptional provision only applies to cases where migration flows are being weaponised by foreign actors, which does not apply to the situation in Germany.Frei has made it clear Merz's new government intends to reshape the country's immigration policy to one focused on control and limitation. "We have made very clear agreements on returns to Afghanistan and Syria, for example, on border controls and pushbacks, on our initiatives at European level," he said earlier this month.The incoming coalition government's agreement stops short of permanent border checks and broad entry bans for undocumented migrants, instead proposing that asylum seekers arriving from another EU state would be refused entry.The agreement says that the measures should be implemented "in coordination with our European neighbours." The SPD insisted this should require the explicit consent of neighbouring countries, a precondition the CDU previously deemed unnecessary.