Die Welt reports that neighboring countries’ ambassadors are already aware of the chancellor’s decision.
According to Die Welt, Germany’s new Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, intends to declare a national emergency in response to the country’s migration challenges.
Merz, elected on Tuesday, announced on his first day that his government would begin returning illegal migrants at the border. Germany remains the EU’s primary destination for asylum seekers, receiving over 237,000 applications last year, a quarter of the EU total.
Die Welt reports that Berlin has already informed ambassadors from neighboring nations about the chancellor’s decision to declare a national emergency.
According to Die Welt, this action would enable the German government to prioritize its own decisions over EU regulations.
To turn away migrants, Berlin will invoke Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which addresses member states’ responsibilities for “the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security.”
Germany shares a 3,700 km land border with nine countries, including Poland, Austria, France, and the Netherlands. These countries are all part of the EU’s Schengen area, which generally allows passport-free travel for EU citizens and many non-EU nationals.
On Wednesday, newly appointed Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told journalists that “we will control the borders more strictly,” resulting “to a higher number of rejections” of asylum applications.
He explained that the goal is to “send a clear signal to the world and to Europe that the policy in Germany has changed.”
Bild reports that Dobrindt, in a letter, instructed the head of the Federal Police to disregard a 2015 directive from then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, who permitted over a million migrants into the country during the peak of Europe’s 2015-16 refugee crisis.