Overview

• At a Berlin press conference, Merz thanked Stocker for closely coordinated checks to target smuggling across their shared border.
• Both chancellors vowed to take decisive measures in Brussels to sharply reduce irregular migration in Europe.
• Germany joined 20 other hardliner states at an informal Brussels meeting to push for stricter EU migration rules.
• The group is considering return centers for rejected asylum seekers in third countries under an EU Commission plan cleared in March.
• Stocker called for stronger cooperation with migrants’ origin and transit countries and for innovative third-country processing models.