Overview
- Saxony’s Michael Kretschmer urged limits on new arrivals from Ukraine and proposed using the EU solidarity mechanism to pause additional relocations from other member states until end‑2026.
- State and federal data show sharply higher entries since summer, with Saxony reporting the highest monthly total since 2022 and the issue slated for the December 4 minister‑presidents’ conference.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to keep young men from leaving for Germany, arguing they are needed to serve at home.
- Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Syrians who work and integrate have a perspective to stay, signaled returns for those who do not, and rejected home‑visit exemptions that would preserve protection status.
- Merz promoted the planned Work‑and‑Stay agency to channel labor migration through a new digital system, with staged rollout and key IT procurement targeted for 2026, while some reporting points to potential benefit changes for Ukrainians arriving after April 1, 2025.