Overview

• A Forsa survey for RTL reports that 21% say Germany handled the 2015 refugee influx well or very well, while most rate the response negatively or not yet complete.
• The same poll finds 46% consider Merkel’s decision to admit many refugees the right choice, compared with 41% who say all should have been turned away at the border.
• Official figures cited by Deutschlandfunk show nearly 6.5 million people who arrived since 2015 were living in Germany in 2024, including major waves from Syria, Eastern Europe and later Ukraine.
• In an ARD documentary interview, Merkel says Germany has achieved substantial integration progress, rejects the notion the country was overwhelmed, and says she would not have authorized force to block entry.
• CDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann criticizes outcomes, saying fewer than half of the roughly 6.5 million are in work and urging a clampdown on irregular migration alongside expanded legal labor pathways.