The leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party Friedrich Merz gives a statement in Berlin on March 8, 2025, as exploratory talks were held between the conservative CDU/CSU union and the social democratic SPD party on forming a future government coalition following Germany's February 23 general election. (Photo by RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP)
Berlin: Germany's conservative election winner Friedrich Merz said on Saturday he had agreed on tough restrictions on irregular immigration in talks with his likely future governing partners.
Europe's biggest economy would reject undocumented migrants at its borders, including asylum seekers, said Merz of the CDU/CSU bloc after concluding exploratory talks with the centre-left SPD.
After days spent hammering out key policy compromises, the two big-tent parties plan to now move into full-fledged talks with the aim of building a grand coalition government next month.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Merz, considered Germany's chancellor-in-waiting, said that "in coordination with our European neighbours, we will reject asylum applications at the common borders".
"We want to take all constitutional measures to reduce irregular migration overall," he said, adding that Germany would also "massively expand border controls from the first day of our joint government".
The campaign before the February 23 vote was marked by a heated debate on immigration and overshadowed by a string of deadly car-ramming and knife attacks blamed on asylum seekers.
This stoked public fears that helped fuel the rise of the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which scored a record of more than 20 percent in the election.
Merz -- a long-time CDU party rival of ex-chancellor Angela Merkel -- has vowed a crackdown on irregular immigration and a turnaround from her welcome to more than a million refugees and migrants.
