Soaring migration figures are a common theme across Europe, yet one country is leading the way on reducing spiralling numbers. While previous German governments had a softer approach to the issue, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s hard-line stance has cut asylum seeker numbers down drastically.
“Germany is leading in some of these very important talks,” Denmark’s immigration minister Kaare Dybvad said. The EU country’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt recently hosted government officials from several countries with a similar tough stance on migration, such as Poland, Denmark and Austria. “We want to make it clear that Germany is no longer in the brakeman’s cab when it comes to migration issues in Europe but is part of the driving force,” the minister said.
Germany’s tougher border control has seen illegal migration fall to 22,170 entries so far in 2025, significantly down from 83,572 in the same period in 2024 and 127,549 in 2023, Die Welt reports.
The country’s tougher position has been welcomed by Brussels, as EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner explains it now “makes progress faster”.
“Over the past years, Germany really was one of the main holdouts across the EU that stood up for the post-war asylum system,” Ravenna Sohst, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute told POLITICO. “With Germany now joining other [hardline] member states, the balance of what is considered mainstream European migration policy is shifting to the right.”
This latest development in Europe is a sharp contrast to the small boat crisis in the English Channel, as Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron’s “one in, one out” migrant deal has been branded a failure before commencing.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also recently ramped up measures to curb migration along Poland’s heavily fortified border with Belarus, which is now secured by a high steel fence and electronic surveillance equipment.
In May, the Polish parliament voted to extend the suspension of asylum applications from Belarus, allowing Polish authorities to suspend asylum rights for 60 days at a time.
This has been welcomed by German Interior Minister Mr Dobrindt, who has expressed support for Poland’s recent decision to introduce temporary border controls in response to Germany’s own tighter checks.