German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Tuesday said the center-left-led coalition government had done a good job on immigration amid rising political pressure on mainstream parties to curb migrant flows.
The minister urged “verbal disarmament” in the debate on future migration and asylum policy, adding that challenges would not be solved with posturing and gimmicks.
How do the migration statistics stack up?
Faeser said the outgoing traffic light coalition had achieved a balance in curbing irregular migration but also strengthening the appeal of Germany as a place for so-called “skilled workers” to relocate.
Immigration of skilled workers has increased by 77% since 2021, she said. Meanwhile asylum numbers have halved and the number of deportations was 55% higher than two years ago.
“Today, we are a country that invests more in integration and is more attractive to talented and qualified workers and skilled workers from all over the world,” the center-left politician said.
“At the same time, we have significantly reduced irregular migration,” she said.
Few issues have been as polarizing as migration policy, Faeser said, making it all the more important to “present figures, data, and facts.”
The number of visas issued to Germany for employment purposes has increased significantly — from around 97,000 in 2021 to 172,000 last year, she said.
Asylum seeker numbers have recently declined significantly, she said. In 2024, the number of initial asylum applications fell by almost 100,000 to just under 230,000.
Controversy over right to asylum
According to media reports, the President of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Hans-Eckhard Sommer, had spoken out on Monday evening in favor of a complete shift in refugee protection in the European Union.
Sommer proposed humanitarian admission programs for those in need of protection from abroad — eliminating any individual right to asylum and other protection rights. Sommer emphasized that he was speaking personally and not as head of the agency.
However, Faese said on Tuesday that the challenges posed by migration cannot be solved with announcements and bold demands, but only with persistent work.
Faeser said such programs and quotas were “not an effective sole means, because they obviously don’t eliminate migration and war refugees.”
“Not a single country in Europe” does this, the Social Democrat (SPD) politician said.
“The right to asylum is not up for discussion for the SPD,” Faeser said.
Sommer, whose agency is subordinate to the Interior Ministry, advocated accepting refugees exclusively through humanitarian admission quotas “in considerable” numbers.
Faeser said the proposal would not change anything because “migration doesn’t stop, and neither do people smugglers.”
“Simple proposals that don’t help” were not welcome, Faeser said.
Germany’s conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who won the February 23 election but with a poorer-than-expected 28.5% of the vote, has pledged to take a tougher line on immigration.
He has pledged not to cooperate with the runner-up far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party (AfD).
Edited by: Zac Crellin
