Overview

• Chancellor-designate Friedrich Merz and Interior Minister-designate Alexander Dobrindt confirm plans to intensify border controls starting May 6, without closing borders.
• Poland’s chargé d’affaires warns that tighter controls could harm cross-border trade and undermine Schengen free movement principles.
• Austria supports Germany’s stricter asylum stance but insists on adherence to EU law, opposing pushbacks in asylum cases.
• Migration numbers have significantly declined, with Germany seeing a 50% drop in asylum applications over the past two years.
• Germany is engaging with EU partners to ensure the new measures align with European legal frameworks and asylum system reforms.