German Chancellor Olaf Scholz(Social Democratic Party), Economy and Climate Action Minister Robert Habeck (R)(Green Party) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (Free Democratic Party) address the media at the conclusion of a two-day retreat of the German federal government cabinet at Schloss Meseberg on August 30, 2023 in Meseberg, Germany. (Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images) 
“We already know that things won’t be as easy as we’ve seen in other countries,” Scholz said after more than seven hours of talks at the chancellery in Berlin on Thursday.
Scholz’s Social Democrats had resisted plans to move the asylum process away from Germany, but the rise of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, has prompted his government to consider ways to reduce the number of migrant arrivals.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni plans to outsource the asylum process to Albania, while the UK’s Rishi Sunak has reached a similar agreement with Rwanda. Scholz cautioned that neither model can be applied directly by Germany.
Leaders of conservative German states have led calls for the federal government to come up with measures for creating asylum processing centres in third countries.
After the AfD surged in European Parliament elections this month, many fear the party will win majorities in three eastern German state legislative elections in September.
“The results of the EU elections were alarming,” Boris Rhein, the Christian Democratic state premier of Hesse, told reporters after the meeting. “We expect from the federal government that it will develop concrete models for the implementation of asylum processes in third and transit states.”
Scholz has pledged to speed up the asylum process and to send back turned down applicants to their home countries. The recent death of a policeman following a knife attack by an Afghan-born man has provoked renewed calls for sending migrants who commit serious crimes back to their homelands, including Afghanistan and Syria.
The Green party, which is part of Scholz’s governing coalition, has resisted stricter immigration laws and defended the right to political asylum that’s enshrined in the German constitution.