CDU leader Friedrich Merz looks at his watch as he addresses journalists after finding an agreement to form a new government, on April 9, 2025 in Berlin.
Photo: Tobias Schwarz / AFP
Once again, the incoming German chancellor has given the lie to his border pledges, this time surprising even his own CDU officials.
Another day, another major migration U-turn by Germany’s incoming chancellor. This time, Friedrich Merz has claimed he wants to reduce the number of new asylum applications to below 100,000, despite sayingbefore the election that he would impose a “de facto entry ban” for all those without valid entry documents.
Merz’s previous pledge followed the murder in January of a two-year-old toddler and a 41-year-old man by a failed Afghan asylum seeker—prime time for heartstring-pulling.
This subsequent backtracking won’t surprise many, including here at europeanconservative.com, which warned that “Merz’s promises to be tough on immigration should be listened to with caution.” That said, German paper Bild did report on Monday that Merz’s 100,000 comment had “caused surprise among high-ranking CDU politicians.” Perhaps they’ve not been paying close enough attention.
The incoming chancellor was not specific about supposed limits on asylum entrants, saying only that “it can no longer be a six-digit number.” Last year, just shy of 230,000 initial asylum applications were filed in Germany.
Nothing says “I’m ready for responsibility” like a nice, round, completely unrealistic number!
Friedrich Merz hat einen Plan 😂 Im ARD-Talk bei Miosga ließ er die neueste Zahl vom Stapel: Unter 100.000 Asylanträge pro Jahr – so stelle er sich das als Kanzler vor. Nicht sechsstellig, bitte schön. Denn sechsstellig klingt ja irgendwie nach Matheunterricht – und wer will… pic.twitter.com/6UNXvP0W0m
His party colleague Lars Haise added that only the AfD would actually impose the kind of entry ban that Merz previously alluded to.
In Sweden, too, conservative writer Ronie Berggren said the German system has become “overloaded,” meaning deportations “are the only way to really change course.”
Om systemet nu är överbelastat så innebär det att troligtvis miljontals tyskar redan tidigare fått betala ett högt pris för massinvandringen. Samma sak gäller hela västra Europa. Hävda medborgarskap och Massutvisningar är enda vägen att på riktigt ändra kurs. https://t.co/L3sUCsZ6cV
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
