Overview

• At the NRW CDU party congress in Bonn, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said tightened border checks, more than 10,000 turn-backs, and new deportation flights mark a successful policy shift.
• Merz credited restrictions on family reunification for people with subsidiary protection and announced further deportation flights to Afghanistan and Syria, while backing EU asylum reform under the GEAS.
• The government claims asylum arrivals have dropped to their lowest level in a decade, even as several EU neighbors criticize Germany’s tougher border practices.
• Angela Merkel, reflecting on her 2015 stance, called the outcome a continuing process and said much has been achieved, acknowledging the enduring divisiveness of the decision.
• Coverage balances integration successes with persistent hurdles in language, jobs and local capacity, and notes analyses linking the 2015 influx to AfD gains and a spike in attacks on refugee shelters recorded by the BKA.