Shortly after last week's €1 billion ($1.08 billion) deal between the European Union (EU) and Lebanon was announced, it quickly became clear the arrangement was not particularly popular in the host country.

"The Lebanese ... people are not for sale, nor for rent," one opposition politician in Lebanon, Gebran Bassil, stated in an interview.

"The ruling junta has exchanged the security, stability and future of the Lebanese for 30 pieces of silver," politicians from an opposition coalition complained in a statement.

"It is propaganda from Brussels to Beirut, without guaranteeing governance or investigating corruption," Halime El Kaakour, a politician who took part in anti-corruption protests in 2019 before being elected into office, argued on social media.

Why has the EU-Lebanon deal sparked outrage?

The deal was announced last Thursday during a visit to Beirut by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides. It consists of a €1 billion aid package for Lebanon, starting this year and running until 2027. Most of the money — around €736 million — is intended to help Lebanon care for its refugee population, most of which is Syrian. The rest is to help Lebanon improve border and migration control.

Lebanon has one of the highest number of refugees per capita in the world. The country, with a population of over 5.2 million, hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrians, most of whom fled from next-door Syria during their country's civil war.

Since the start of the war around 2012, there have been tensions between native Lebanese and displaced Syrian residents. Lebanon's recent economic and political crises have only worsened this.

Populist politicians have called for undocumented Syrians to be expelled, and rights groups have reported that Lebanese security forces are forcibly repatriating Syrian migrants by picking them up off the street, then dropping them at the border. In Syria, forces loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad are likely to imprison, torture or kill returnees, or conscript them into the Syrian army.

As a result of these growing tensions and deportations, more Syrians have been trying to leave Lebanon. Record numbers have been arriving in Cyprus, the closest European territory, seeking asylum. In the first three months of this year, Cyprus recorded 2,000 new arrivals by sea. Over the same period last year, there were 78.

The European aid package is supposed to help remedy this. But in fact, observers told DW, it is likely to make things worse.

European bribery? 

Inside Lebanon, the accusations of EU bribery refer to the fact that some Lebanese think the EU is paying to keep unwanted Syrians in their country. In fact, the controversy got so bad that a few days after the Europeans' visit, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati publicly denied the country was being "bribed" during a television interview.

In some ways, you can understand why the Lebanese might think that way, says Philippe Dam, Human Rights Watch's EU director based in Brussels. "There could be a bit of truth to that when you look at the transactional approach the EU is taking to irregular migration and basically paying other states to keep people away," he explained, noting similar deals struck with Turkey and Tunisia. 

Additionally the details of the EU-Lebanon deal remain unclear. This is also causing tension, Dam told DW. There may well be some positive steps in the deal, such as support to basic services in Lebanon.

"But [von der Leyen] also said some very problematic things," Dam continued. "She announced support for the Lebanese security forces on migration and border management which could be problematic. Because these people are the ones practicing coerced deportation of Syrians," he explained.

"She also mentioned a structured approach to voluntary returns and referred to support for Syrians living back in Syria in a way that favors returns over true protection," he pointed out, referring to the fact that rights organizations, including his own, worry that this may be a step towards recognizing parts of Syria as safe to return to.

"The war in Syria is not over," the governments of Germany, the US, UK and France said in a joint statement in March. "The conditions for safe, dignified and voluntary returns of refugees to Syria, supported by the international community, are not yet met." 

 

A 'dangerous' deal for Syrian refugees

This was never about supporting Syrian refugees, adds Kelly Petillo, program manager for Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "This is first and foremost about preventing migration to Cyprus and to the rest of Europe."

Giving money to the Lebanese military "means more insecurity for Syrian refugees," Petillo added. "They face more pressure to leave by themselves or be deported. That will result in the opposite of what von der Leyen apparently wants to achieve, creating more pressure for Syrians to move towards Europe."

Willem Staes, the Middle East policy officer for Belgium-based organization, 11.11.11, which brings together 60 non-governmental and rights organizations, agreed.

Staes points to a survey conducted by his organization in late April of Syrians in Lebanon. The survey showed the overwhelming majority of respondents to be very worried about being deported amid the deteriorating security situation for Syrians in Lebanon. Eighty-eight percent said this had a direct impact on their decision to try to reach Europe.

Lebanon deal 'motivated by electoral fears'

"[The EU-Lebanon deal] is really some kind of stupidity Olympics," Staes argues. "Instead of taking effective action against these deportations, von der Leyen is going to give the Lebanese army more money and increase their capacity to violate international law."

There's no way it's going to make life better for Syrian refugees or even Lebanese citizens, he said. "This deal is dangerous and will lead to more deaths, more violence and more irregular migration," he told DW. "It is indicative of problematic European policies that are solely motivated by electoral fears, rather than realities on the ground."

The only potentially good thing about the EU-Lebanon deal was the fact that it puts renewed focus on Lebanon's problems, experts agreed.

"EU action is long overdue," Staes said. A winning plan would involve Lebanon ending forcible deportations, giving more Syrians temporary residence and work permits, he argued. Meanwhile the EU could facilitate more legal migration to Europe and put together an economic package to help the Lebanese people.

"The expert community has been calling for a EU-Lebanon deal for a very long time," Petillo concluded. "Unfortunately it's gone in the wrong direction."

Edited by: Maren Sass

Friedrich Merz, chairman of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) launched the first mainstream German Leitkultur debate at the start of the millennium. The term originates from the agricultural sector, where it's used to describe the dominant plant varieties in a biotope.

At the time, Merz used the term less with regard to integration, and more as a counter to the model of multiculturalism. Immigrants, he said, should conform to the "liberal German leading culture" which is reflected in the German constitution, the German language and society's key values such as equality.

But politicians from the left of the political spectrum quickly derided the concept as an attempt at "assimilation" and at echoing the right-wing extremist ideology of the anti-immigration populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. 

The term was incorporated into the party programs of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) in 2007.

It was debated again in 2016, after hundreds of thousands of refugees came to Germany, mainly to flee the civil war in Syria, and needed to be integrated.

The term has triggered electioneering, or fishing for populist votes.

European Leitkultur?

This term was first used in a political sense by Syrian Islam expert Bassam Tibi from the University of Göttingen. In 1998, he called for a European Leitkultur to cement values such as human rights, tolerance, and the separation of church and state.

In 2005, German Parliamentary President Norbert Lammert attempted to redefine Leitkultur not in a German national context, but rather as an explicitly European idea. Lammert called for a discussion about a "guiding European idea" that draws on "common cultural roots, common history, and common traditions."

But the Leitkultur debate in Germany has another dimension that has a lot to do with the Germans themselves, and their history. The crimes of the Nazi regime, committed in Germany's name, destroyed all of the country's patriotic traditions, and the deep shock that ensued meant that it was decades before anything approximating a new sense of national pride could be created.

Only in 2006, at the time of the FIFA World Cup — hosted by Germany — could one finally see German flags waving in the streets without it prompting negative associations, and that was more than 60 years after the end of World War II. It was the beginning of a new, healthier sense of patriotism, one that did not arise from excessive exaltation.

In 2024, opposition leader Friedrich Merz used the term again, saying Christmas trees are part of Germany's "guiding culture." This loaded term pervades German migration debates — whether it refers to required learning or action is often unclear. It is now enshrined in the CDU's new basic policy program.

This article was originally written in German. It was first published in 2018 and has been updated.

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The Japanese government has expressed "disappointment" with recent remarks made by US President Joe Biden, in which he described Japan as "xenophobic" when it came to immigration policy.

At a campaign fundraiser on the evening of May 1, Biden deemed Japan, along with India, China and Russia, as "xenophobic" as he tried to contrast the nations' economic circumstances to those in the US as a nation of immigrants.

Through diplomatic channels, Tokyo informed the White House that the president's remarks were not based on an "accurate understanding" of Japanese policies, Kyodo News quoted a government official as saying. Many Japanese and foreign residents have also expressed their disagreement with Biden's choice of words.

They cited Japan granting entry to more refugees than ever before last year, tourists consistently receiving a warm welcome and many foreign nationals integrating into Japanese society.

For others in the country, the comment prompted some soul-searching regarding Japan's policies toward asylum-seekers, low refugee numbers and potentially discriminatory checks on foreign nationals.

What did Joe Biden say?

The diplomatic storm was triggered when Biden spoke at an event at a hotel in Washington attended by Asian American voters. "One of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others," Biden reportedly said. "Why? Because we welcome immigrants."

He added, "Look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they are xenophobic. They don't want immigrants."

White House officials later attempted to play down the issue, with spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters that the president had been highlighting the US tradition of welcoming immigrants.

"Our allies and partners know very well how much this president respects them," she added.

In addition to the choice of words, many in Japan were upset at Biden lumping the nation together with China and Russia, two nations that have been accused of human rights abuses and that have historically had tense diplomatic relations with Japan.

Xenophobia is 'too strong'

Malcolm Adams, an African American who has lived in Japan for 48 years, said he "respectfully disagrees with the president's characterization of Japan as xenophobic."

"It is true that Japan has historically had strict immigration policies, but it is important to acknowledge the significant strides that country has made in recent years to welcome and accommodate foreign workers," he told DW.

Adams, 74, said Japan has recognized that it faces a demographic crisis of an aging society where too few babies are being born and it is opening up — admittedly gradually — to outside workers to meet the labor shortage. He added that he felt he has been "embraced by Japanese society."

"This country is evolving, and its efforts to address demographic challenges should be commended rather than criticized."

Ken Kato, a businessman from Tokyo, also disagreed with the US president's remarks. "That accusation is completely untrue and unfair," he said. "I would say that Japan is one of the most welcoming nations in the world, which is completely the opposite of what Biden said."

Kato pointed out that modern Japan has historically welcomed foreign ideas, having opened up to the outside world with the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

Japan's discriminatory policing

"To generalize that all of Japan is xenophobic or unwelcoming to foreign nationals is completely groundless," said Teppei Kasai, program officer at the Japan office of Human Rights Watch.

However, he admitted that "certain aspects" of society in Japan might be considered less accepting of foreigners.

There are reports that non-Japanese can find it difficult to rent properties as Japanese owners are reluctant to accept foreign tenants. There is also an ongoing legal case against the police over allegations of non-Japanese being stopped and questioned far more frequently than Japanese.

The government and police authorities have strenuously denied they are actively picking out foreigners for questioning after a former inspector who was based in western Japan caused a storm by stating in an interview in April with the Mainichi newspaper that he was told to "target foreigners for questioning and check their foreign resident registration cards."

One month of the year was designated for "cracking down on foreigners," the unnamed former officer said, with police instructed to "put extra effort into checking cards, but also searching foreigners for drugs, knives or anything else illegal."

"It is important to distinguish the problematic policies of the Japanese government and what the general public thinks," said Kasai, pointing to a 2020 government survey which showed that 20% of respondents said they were open to accepting more refugees in a "proactive" manner. A further 57% said they were willing to accept greater numbers of refugees "carefully."

Changing attitudes toward immigration in Japan?

However, getting into Japan can prove challenging. The country granted a "record 303 asylum-seekers" refugee status out of 13,823 applicants in 2023, The Japan Times reported, citing figures from a recent Justice Ministry report. This was a jump from 202 people granted refugee status in 2022.

Japan also practices policies criticized by human rights groups, such as "indefinite" or prolonged detention for migrants requesting asylum and deportation.

The country remains opposed to large numbers of foreign nationals settling permanently. A poll conducted by The Asahi Shimbun newspaper in April indicated that 62% of people support the government policy of granting more visas for skilled workers, up significantly from just 44% in the previous poll conducted in 2018. However, some remain resistant to large-scale immigration.

Kato's own attitude seems indicative of Japan's general mood against "unrestricted immigration."

"We see on television that that policy has not gone well in other countries, and I am not convinced that Japan needs large numbers of foreign workers as within a decade or two, AI, robotics and other technologies will have advanced to such a degree that they will have solved the labor problems," the Tokyo businessman said.

"I don't see this as xenophobia; it's just a sensible policy."

Edited by: Kate Martyr

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The Berlin neighborhood Kreuzberg remains inextricably linked with Turkish immigrants and their descendants — even if today, you're almost as likely to hear English or Spanish spoken, alongside Turkish and German, in the area that once stood on the west side of the Berlin Wall.

Now there are plans to erect a monument there to honor so-called "guest workers," in particular of the first generation. The project also envisages a separate memorial to former "contract workers" from Vietnam and other "socialist brother states" in what was communist East Berlin.

The project's initiator is local Social Democrat politician Sevim Aydin, a member of the Berlin Senate, whose own late parents were among that first generation. She says migrants' contribution to Germany's success has not been recognized.

"Migrants are always portrayed in negative terms. I think it's time to relate the positive things — also about the first generation," she told DW. "Many arrived unable to speak German, but they worked, brought up families and kept this country running," she added. "I want the voices of these people to be heard."

More than 25% of Germany's 83 million people have a migrant background, according to the Federal Statistics Office. Among children, the figure rises to 40%.

Few signs of Germany's multicultural reality

Over a million monuments are estimated to exist in Germany. Yet few reflect its multicultural history. Frankfurt first floated the idea of commemorating "guest workers" in 2004, but a result is not expected until the 2030s. 

And while there are already two museums telling the story of German emigration overseas in the northern cities of Hamburg and Bremerhaven, a museum about migration to Germany is only slated to open in Cologne in 2029. The project grew out of an initiative launched by Turkish migrants in the late 1980s.

Aydin hopes that the new project in Berlin can be realized quickly so that the first generation of "guest workers" get to see it in their lifetime. The aim is not just to build twin statues or monuments, but also to document the history of post-World War II labor migration and migrant experience — in West and East Berlin.

"This should be about the suffering and the joy," said Aydin. She was six when she and her family were able to join her father in Germany in 1978. He had left in the early 1960s, working first as a miner, then as a factory worker before opening a cafe in Berlin. Her mother worked as a cleaner.

Migrants in East Germany faced drastic restrictions

Monument advisory committee member and director of the FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, Natalie Bayer, told DW that the project would also highlight racism. Bayer, who was brought up by her Korean mother in former West Germany, said: "You shouldn't really compare. But I think that the experiences of the East German 'contract workers' were racist in a much more dramatic sense."

The largest groups of migrants arrived in the former communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) from Vietnam and Mozambique in the 1980s. Frequently these contract workers were forced to hand in their passports upon arrival. For women, pregnancy generally meant abortion or deportation. The newcomers lived largely cut off from the East German population. Contact was not regarded as desirable.

Many came with the hope or promise of getting good training and jobs. They were used as cheap labor to prop up the GDR's crumbling economy. Part of their wages was withheld without their consent to settle their country's debts or to swell state coffers or pockets back home.

"We were practically modern slaves," said Adelino Massuvira Joao, a former contract worker. The majority of Mozambicans returned home following the collapse of the GDR. Many never got the portion of their wages expected on their return or the promised compensation. Massuvira Joao, who stayed in Germany, is involved in a longstanding campaign for remuneration from the German government.

Discrimination and dirty work

Former West Germany signed the first recruitment agreement with Italy in the mid-1950s. Other mainly southern European countries followed. Turkish migrants started arriving in the early 1960s and ultimately became the biggest group. Guest workers tended to end up in badly paid or unpopular jobs.

Migrants on both sides of the Wall faced exclusion, discrimination and racism to varying degrees. Neither Germanies expected the workers to stay.

Gul Ataseven-Ozen came to Germany in 1972 when she was 18. After two factory jobs, she got a job as a teacher and became politically involved.

"We helped build up Germany. Many people in the second generation have gone into politics or business, like my son. I spent 30 years working in education. That must be respected. We want to show the next generations and also the existing one we also belong here, that we have participated and contributed," she told DW.

Reunification brings further disadvantages

The Fall of the Wall had a negative impact on many migrants in western and eastern Germany. Those in the former East found themselves in a particularly precarious position. Factories closed and they lost both their jobs and their work permits.

"Many were deported. Many also went voluntarily because the mood was no longer pleasant," said the museum director Bayer. The 1990s saw an upsurge of racist violence across Germany. "Integration policy took 70 steps backward," Bayer said.

Turbulent times in Germany

Berlin's half-a-million-euro monument project comes amidst revelations of far-right discussions about the mass deportation of immigrants and German citizens of foreign origin. While the federal government is seeking to attract more skilled workers from abroad due to the aging demographic, it is also taking a hard line on irregular migration.

Migration researcher Noa Ha says the center-left coalition government had set out with an ambitious legislative plan to modernize Germany before it was confronted with various crises and the rise of the far right.

'This is the beginning'

"We have to speak about a new German identity that is considerably more plural," Ha the director of the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) maintains.

Historian and migration researcher Patrice Poutrus, whose father was Sudanese and who himself grew up in former East Germany, said he welcomed any symbol that recognizes locals with migrant roots.

But given the current political climate, Poutrus added that he feared the monument would not spark the debate needed about who or what had been commemorated in the past, nor who must be accepted as an integral part of German society today.

The history of migration must be integrated into every local museum, Ha argued. She says the Berlin monument should be followed by the same sort of acknowledgment in other German cities. "The German government should launch an entire new program. The monuments should be coupled with a political demand — that this is the beginning and not the end," Ha concluded.

Edited by Rina Goldenberg

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

  

On a bright sunny day in March, the search-and-rescue vessel Life Support set off on a 30-hour journey from the Sicilian port of Catania to Malta's search-and-rescue zone. The boat is run by the Milan-based humanitarian organization Emergency.

Sailing down, crew members ran drills — what to do, for example, if a migrant boat capsized and people were drowning, or how to save people who could not move their legs. Afterward, in the ship's living room, they discussed how to behave if the Libyan coast guard approached the boat before or during a rescue.

Instructions differed based on whether the coast guard had drawn firearms or was merely "hanging around" in an attempt to intimidate the vessel.

Just hours later, elsewhere in the Mediterranean, that threat was borne out. Members of the Libyan coast guard attempted to "forcibly board" the search-and-rescue vessel Geo Barents, run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which had departed Italy shortly before Life Support. For two hours, the coast guard "aggressively threatened survivors and MSF staff with arrest and forcible removal to Libya," Doctors Without Borders said.

Nicola Selva Bonino, a Life Support sea rescuer, told DW the Libyan coast guard has approached the Life Support around five times in the year it's been in operation.

Libya's coast guard is partly financed and supplied by the European Union. Since 2017, the bloc has allocated more than €57 million to help Libyan authorities patrol their border.

NGOs replace government vessels

In the eight years since the so-called "migrant crisis" of 2015, EU ships have halted nearly all operations in the search-and-rescue zones between the southern coasts of Europe and the coasts of North Africa. Ships like the Life Support have taken their place.

Critics of NGO sea rescue operations have said they offer a "pull factor" for irregular migrants looking to enter EU countries whose asylum systems are already overwhelmed. Migrants who set off to sea — and particularly those who embark unseaworthy vessels that could not feasibly make the entire journey on their own — place their bets in getting rescued by European NGOs, they said.

No research has conclusively proven this is the case, but it represents one of the main arguments against sea rescue missions debated in Europe's halls of government.

'Really easy' to miss boats in the dark

Shortly after entering the Maltese search-and-rescue zone in the early hours of March 16, the Life Support learned about a migrant vessel in distress 35 nautical miles away.

The ship located migrants seven hours later, in a white fiberglass boat with a broken motor overloaded with 71 people, mostly young Bangladeshi men, but also some Eritreans, an Egyptian and a young woman. Many had spent months in Libyan prisons before the journey, they told DW, showing bruises on their backs where they said they had been whipped by prison guards.

"The prison, it was so hard," said an Eritrean migrant named Mehretab. "You only eat once a day. If you're dead, if you're alive, they don't care."

After setting off from the Libyan city of Tajura, they had been at sea without food or drinking water for the past 20 hours. By the time the Life Support located them, they said they were certain they were about to die.

Shortly after staff facilitated the rescue that night, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center, or MRCC, a Rome-based control center that governs sea rescue operations in and near Italian waters, instructed the Life Support to start trying to locate a second boat in distress.

It's possible this was the vessel migrants said left just 15 minutes before theirs from Tajura. The boat held their friends, mostly people from sub-Saharan Africa, including women and children, said passengers. Mehretab said the boat contained Eritreans he had lived with for the past two months in Libya.

Staff were told the boat could be as close as 5 nautical miles, or around 30 minutes, away. But after searching until around 4 a.m., the mission was called off by the MRCC, and the vessel was instructed to go to Italy's northern port of Ravenna — four days further sailing.

Life Support staff asked if they could keep looking for the boat until daylight to ensure they weren't missing something. The night had been clear but dark, with no moonshine.

"It could have been really easy to pass by and not see it," said Anabel Montes Mier, Emergency's search-and-rescue operations manager.

The control center denied the request, and did not explain why. It has not answered DW's requests for comment on the decision.

Rescue boats detained

If the Life Support vessel had chosen not to follow this command, it's likely it would have been detained upon arrival to Italy. Indeed, three search-and-rescue vessels were detained during Life Support's mission: SOS Humanity's Humanity 1, the Sea Watch 5 and Sea Eye 4.

The MSF boat, Geo Barents, which landed in a northern Italian port on March 20, was also detained. Italian authorities kept it in port for 20 days for "failing to comply" with instructions issued by the Libyan coast guard.

Four days after the rescue, the Life Support team still had no information to give the migrants who asked what happened to the second boat. It's possible but unlikely that its passengers successfully steered it to the island of Lampedusa, the closest European territory to Libya and the goal for most migrant boats that cross the Mediterranean.

It could also have been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard. Or it could have sunk into the sea.

Italy's new law makes Mediterranean crossing 'even more dangerous'

Rescue missions in the Mediterranean haven't always looked like this. There was a time when ships came and left from Sicily, a little over a day of sailing from the search-and-rescue zone, and didn't return to land until they had rescued as many boats in distress as they could.

But at the start of 2023, Italy implemented new legislation requiring ships to sail to assigned ports, often days away, immediately after facilitating a single sea rescue.

For example, Life Support's mission could have started on Friday afternoon and ended Monday morning if the ship had been assigned a Sicilian port. Instead, it lasted nearly a week.

Three days after Italy's government signed its 2023 law, 18 organizations facilitating sea rescue in the Mediterranean published a statement warning it would cause more deaths on the already dangerous migration route.

The law "will reduce rescue capacities at sea and thereby make the central Mediterranean, one of the world’s deadliest migration routes, even more dangerous," they wrote. "The decree ostensibly targets [search-and-rescue] NGOs, but the real price will be paid by people fleeing across the central Mediterranean and finding themselves in situations of distress." 

Bittersweet end for migrants

Last year marked the deadliest period for migrants at sea in Europe since 2017.

In the less than 24 hours the Life Support was in the search-and-rescue zone, it received six calls from boats in distress, Montes Mier told DW, speaking from the ship's control room on the final day of the mission. Due to the constraints imposed, the vessel was only able to rescue one.

In fact, for at least two clear, sunny days after the Life Support departed the zone, there were no vessels at all patrolling the area between Libya and Italy.

Life Support, on its trek back to Ravenna, carried 71 migrants to safety — less than half the ship's capacity.

These migrants were safe. But none had heard from their friends on the second boat.

Edited by: Cathrin Schaer

"Are you Tajik? If you are, cancel the ride."

This was what many taxi drivers in Russia have heard from potential customers following last Friday's attack on the Crocus City Hall near Moscow. The attack claimed the lives of at least 139 people, either shot at point-blank range or suffocated by the smoke when the attackers set the concert hall on fire.

This week, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow arrested 11 people, including seven of Tajik origin, who are suspected of committing or of being complicit in the biggest such attack Russia has witnessed in past decades. While Russia has pointed fingers at Ukraine, a branch of the militant group "Islamic State" known as ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for the attack and released body-cam footage of the carnage.

The nationality of the suspects has sparked a heated debate on tightening migration laws among Russian policymakers. It has also led to rising xenophobia against the Central Asian community working and living in Russia, particularly Tajik nationals.

Travel warnings for Central Asian migrants

In the wake of the deadly attack, the Tajik community has warned Tajik nationals against leaving their homes in the evenings, according to reports by Baza, a Russian Telegram news channel. What\s more, some Central Asian states such as Kyrgyzstan, have warned their citizens against traveling to Russia.

While xenophobia has long been a major threat to Central Asian communities in Russia, many Tajiks living there who spoke with DW following the attack are concerned things will now get worse.

Alisher, a fire safety worker from Tajikistan now living in St. Petersburg, told DW that after the attack, he was approached by strangers on the streets.

"Once they asked me about my ethnicity and whether I supported terrorists. I told them that I am a Russian citizen without any accent, and they left me alone. I am here legally, but those who are here without papers are afraid of deportation," he said.

Some Russian far-right and pro-war Telegram channels have been flooded with messages inciting violence against migrants, suggesting that Central Asians and their entire families be deported.

Before the attack, Abdullo, a fruit vendor in one of Moscow's markets and another Tajik national, told DW that he occasionally received xenophobic messages on social media. But after March 22, the hateful messages had become more intense.

"They try to threaten me online to push me to leave Russia. But I don't consider that because I cannot make a good living back home in Tajikistan," he said.

Physical attacks against Tajiks in Russia

Abuse against Central Asians has also not just remained verbal, but also taken on physical form. In Blagoveshchensk, in Russia's Far East region, for example, a cafe shop run by Tajik nationals was set on fire.

In a different incident, in Kaluga, a city located 200 kilometers (around 125 miles) southwest of Moscow, three Tajik nationals were beaten up by persons unknown. Since last Saturday, a group of recently arrived Kyrgyz citizens has been held in the airport for checks.The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has reported that controls on arriving immigrants may be tightened.

Edward Lemon, an expert on Central Asia and research professor at Texas A&M University, told DW that ordinary Russians perceived the post-Soviet Central Asian region as backwards, despite what they see as efforts to "civilize" it under Russian and Soviet rule. He said "media and nationalist influencers portray Central Asians as uneducated, potential criminals and terrorists. They face marginalization and racism on a daily basis."

Central Asians face police checks, unlawful detentions

However, Central Asians are also facing ethnic discrimination from Russian officials. Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported that rights groups had received more than 2,500 complaints from Central Asian migrants about unwarranted police checks and unlawful detentions in the two days following the attack. It said dozens of them have even reportedly been subject to torture and deportation.

In the wake of the massacre, Russian policymakers have also been pushing for entry restrictions and digital controls for migrants.

"The suspects reported in the media are migrants. And this raises the problem of migration policy. [...] Information about crimes committed by migrants appears in the media almost daily,"   Sergey Aksyonov, the head of Russian-annexed Crimea, wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

Temur Umarov, a Central Asia expert at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, told DW that while Moscow wants to maintain good relations with its longtime ally Tajikistan, it also can't ignore public feeling in Russia.

"That's why [Russian President Vladimir] Putin emphasizes that the terrorists have no nationality, but that doesn't mean that society has the same attitude. The Russian government has to show that they are dealing with that problem, as some people will not be drawing differences between radical Islamists and labor migrants and pressure the government to limit the number of those migrants," he said.

Russia depends on migrants

Most migrants from Central Asia come to work in Russia as taxi drivers, janitors and construction workers. According to the Institute of Demographic Research at the Russian Academy of Sciences, more than 3 million Tajik migrants were living in Russia in 2023.

While Umarov thinks the attack will affect migrants both with regard to their situation under law and in day-to-day life, he doubts the Russian state can afford to cut off migrant flows, as the Russian economy relies heavily on Central Asian labor.

"I don't think it is possible to change this situation because there are not enough Russians of a certain age that would be able to replace 5–6 million migrants annually, considering that the demographic situation is getting worse. It will be a miracle if Russia is able to kick out migrants and replace them with Russians," he said.

The names of the Tajik nationals interviewed for this article have been changed to protect their identities.

Edited by: Timothy Jones

When it comes to refugees, 91-year-old Alfred Dubs is easily enraged. The British government's plan to send refugees to Rwanda is "shameful" and damages the United Kingdom's reputation, he said.

Dubs knows what it feels like to leave one's family and home behind, as he himself traveled on the Kindertransport from Prague to London at the age of 6 to escape the Holocaust. Today, he sits as a life peer in the House of Lords for the opposition Labour Party and campaigns on behalf of refugees.

So far, the Lords have refused to pass the "Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill." One reason is that it violates international law. But Dubs predicts they will ultimately give in since the Conservatives also make up the largest group in the House of Lords and the will to fight among the older Lords is waning.

Courts previously blocked the plan

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made it a priority to "stop the boats." Almost 30,000 refugees came across the English Channel last year, mostly in small rubber dinghies. They, and all the other refugees who have reached the country "irregularly" since the beginning of 2022, could soon face deportation to Rwanda. Regardless of their origin, they will be shipped to the East African country and forced to submit their asylum applications there instead of in the UK.

Two years ago, Boris Johnson's government became the first to charter a plane to take a small group of refugees to Kigali, despite fierce protests from many human rights organizations. The European Court of Human Rights put a stop to Johnson's plans at the last minute.

The UK has already transferred £140 million ($178 million, €163.5 million) to Rwanda, but so far no refugees have actually been sent. The British Supreme Court initially declared the plan illegal, ruling that Rwanda is not a safe third country. The government has since rectified this via a new agreement in which the Rwandan state has promised not deport to anyone to their country of origin.

Sunak has argued that accommodating refugees in British hotels costs £6 million a day and hopes the Rwandan deportations will have a deterrent effect. If the bill doesn't pass, more people will die making the dangerous crossing, the minister responsible, Andrew Sharpe, warned his colleagues in the House of Lords. The Lords should not oppose the "will of the people," Sunak has said in a bid to win support for his tough asylum policy.

Deterrent effect unclear

Opinions differ as to whether the bill would even have an affect on refugee numbers. Jacqueline McKenzie is a human rights lawyer in London, representing, among others, an Iraqi who was already shackled in a bus on the tarmac to be deported to Rwanda before the European Court of Justice prevented it with its urgent ruling.

It was a traumatic experience for him, McKenzie said. He has since proven that he was a victim of human trafficking and is now legally allowed to stay in the UK.

McKenzie doesn't believe that the bill will have a deterrent effect. "We've been talking about Rwanda for years, and people are still coming," she said.

Nikolai Posner isn't convinced either. He works for the French refugee organization Utopia 56 in the northern French port city of Calais, where many migrants embark on their risky journey. When the plan first became known two years ago, there were fewer crossings at first. That is, "until the smugglers decreased the price," as they could well do again. Like many who work in refugee aid, he is calling for more safe and legal migration routes.

Many who make the dangerous journey from France to the southern English coast have family in the UK. And most of them are indeed entitled to asylum because they come from countries like Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, where war and persecution mean that the vast majority of applications have been accepted so far.

Even if the law is passed in the next few days, it remains unclear when the first flights to Rwanda will depart. Civil servants' associations have called for renewed legal clarification, as they believe the new regulations continue to violate international law. Lawyer McKenzie has also predicted that the legal dispute will continue.

Sunak set on swift implementation

However, the prime minister seems determined to deport the first refugees as quickly as possible. He has made the issue of migration a top priority and aims to have the first planes take off for Kigali within days.

It's a repellant thought for Alfred Dubs. After all, he said, the UK is one of the founding members of the European Court of Justice and a signatory to the Geneva Convention on Refugees. The fact that his home country, which took him in so generously as a child, is now setting an "appalling example" is something he will continue to fight as best he can, he said.

This article was originally written in German.

In the village of Wale, Thailand and Myanmar are connected by a small wooden bridge. The narrow river that flows beneath it constitutes the border. The villages on the two banks share the same name, and their lives are closely entwined. Locals carry rice and vegetables back and forth across the little footbridge; children splash and play in the water below. The Thai border guard in the observation post is paying far more attention to his cellphone than to the flow of commuters.

The majority of people who cross here are from the local villages. In recent weeks, however, an unusually large number of young people from other parts of Myanmar have been crossing the border in this quiet village.

"I can spot them straight away by their big rucksacks," said Tungsa, as she plays dominoes outside her general store on the Myanmar side of the river.

'If they make it here, they're safe'

These young people are fleeing conscription into Myanmar's military. Thousands are seeking to go abroad before mandatory military service comes into effect in April, for men between 18 and 35 years old and women aged 18 to 27. Anyone who doesn't go into hiding risks being ordered, as a soldier, to commit war crimes. And refusing to do military service is punishable by several years in jail.

"If they make it here, they're safe," said Tungsa. That's because the Myanmar side of Wale is controlled by the Karen National Union. It's one of the ethnic militias that are fighting the Myanmar army inside the country on several fronts. The military junta has suffered some bitter defeats in recent months.

The United States Institute of Peace estimates that the Myanmar army has just 130,000 soldiers at most, and that only about half are combat-ready. Observers believe the impending obligatory conscription is a desperate attempt to forcibly augment their greatly reduced troop numbers. And so more and more young people trying to escape conscription are now thronging into neighboring Thailand.

In the past few weeks, hundreds have been arrested by patrolling border police. Human rights activists report that, depending on the policeman or arresting authority, they may be detained, sent back over the border, or, on occasion, released on payment of a bribe.

Porous 'green border' allows many to cross

However, most refugees from Myanmar make it into Thailand undetected, either by sneaking across the porous, virtually unguarded jungle border, or by mingling with regular commuters. At the Ban Mun Ru Chai river border to the west of Wale, the Thai guard post isn't even staffed. A couple of goats who have taken up residence watch the many people crossing the river to the Thai side.

The Thai government seems to have been wholly unprepared for the situation in Myanmar, said security expert Panitan Wattanayagorn, a professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. He assumes that fighting between the military junta and resistance groups will intensify over the coming months, and that forced conscription will continue to drive people across the border into Thailand. On the TV channel Thai PBS, Wattanayagorn warned that Bangkok urgently needs to put measures in place to deal with the impending influx of refugees from Myanmar.

The Thai foreign minister has announced plans to establish a humanitarian security zone along the western border, providing refugees with food and medical assistance. However, authorities have not given any information about where exactly the protected zone would be located, or when it would be established.

Meanwhile, only random checks are being carried out along over 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) border between Myanmar and Thailand. "I check people on a random basis," said the border guard in Wale. Last week, he arrested six people trying to escape conscription. But "sometimes I just let them through," he admited, fixing his attention on his plate of rice as three people from Myanmar scuttled unchallenged over the bridge.

Thailand needs cheap workers from Myanmar

People in Wale don't seem to fear an influx of refugees. "Just let them all in," said Pattanew, a motorcycle taxi driver who is at the waiting area near the border bridge. He transports day laborers on the back of his moped; they work for very little money, tending Thai fields and cleaning houses. "Without the migrant workers from Myanmar, we would have a lot of issues," he said. "They're very hardworking; they tolerate the sun and rain and don't complain."

Most of his passengers work in the surrounding border region. The new refugees, on the other hand, mostly travel on to big cities like Bangkok, Chiang Mai or the migrant quarter of Samut Sakhon, where they find places to stay among their fellow countrymen.

It's estimated there are between 2 and 3 million people from Myanmar living in Thailand. No one knows the exact number, as many are in the country illegally. One of them, a man in his early 20s, asked to be referred to by the pseudonym "Mao Uh." He's afraid that otherwise, he may be detected by the authorities' radar.

Hoping for a work permit

It has been almost a month since he left his family in Ayeyarwady, west of Yangon, and set out for Thailand. The journey was a nerve-wracking one. Every time he passed through one of the junta's checkpoints, he ran the risk of being detected and arrested. "I was very lucky," he said. Eventually he made it across the "green border" in the countryside, into Thailand.

Since then, he has been holed up in a Bangkok suburb, in a stuffy room that he seldom leaves. He's worried about his sister back home. Like him, she faces being called up for military service.

"We've already agreed that she'll follow as soon as I have work here," said Mao. Ideally, he would like to work in the security sector as a guard, protecting people. But essentially he's prepared to do any work, "no matter what, no matter where."

Mao is hoping for a so-called worker amnesty from the Thai authorities. Four times a year, illegal migrants can apply for an amnesty that will allow them to work in the country legally for a certain period of time. However, labor lawyers are critical of the procedure; they say it's too complicated and susceptible to corruption, which is why many refugees from Myanmar simply work illegally.

Thai authorities 'turning a blind eye'

According to the International Labor Organization, the invisible migrant workers from Myanmar already contribute up to 6.6% of Thailand's GDP. Sompong Srakaew from the Labor Rights Promotion Network is convinced the influx of workers from the neighboring country will further support the economy. "It's good for the Thai economy, because employers need cheap workers to remain competitive," he said.

Srakaew, who advocates for migrant rights, estimates more than 10,000 people fleeing conscription have already crossed the border, with more coming every day. "It seems that the Thai authorities are turning a blind eye, and allowing many to enter the country unofficially," he said.

This article was originally written in German.

German employers are short of hundreds of thousands of workers. IT and technology, medical care, contractor fields, technology and logistics are among the hardest hit sectors.

The reworked Skilled Immigration Act, which Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, passed in the summer, aims to quickly lower the barriers to immigration of skilled workers from countries outside the European Union.

Starting November 18, 2023, the new rules are coming into force in three stages. Details, available in German, English, French and Spanish, are available on the government website.

EU Blue Card

Starting in November 2023, more academic and similarly qualified workers from third countries have been able to come to Germany on the EU Blue Card without German language requirements.

Annual salary limits, in place to prevent wage dumping, were changed in 2024 to just under 45,300 ($49,500) for entry-level and in-demand jobs, known as "bottleneck occupations"; the cut-off for all other occupations was set at €41,042.

Such occupations now include educators and nurses.

In the IT sector, skilled workers without a university degree can also receive an EU Blue Card if they can prove that they have at least three years of relevant professional experience. Nursing assistants with less than three years of nursing training are also granted access to the German labor market.

In Germany, the Blue Card has been in place for a decade. With the lower income requirement, it will now be easier to get. Once in Germany, workers will also have more flexibility in changing careers, although regulated professions — such as law and medicine — will still require the necessary qualifications.

Right of residence, more flexibility

Skilled workers with professional or academic qualifications who meet all the requirements are now entitled to a residence permit. Previously, diplomatic missions abroad and immigration authorities had discretionary powers.

The Federal Employment Agency has been instructed to accelerate the approval process of prospective foreign workers. Experienced skilled workers will no longer need their qualifications recognized in Germany if they are already recognized by their country of origin and have at least two years of professional experience.

Qualifications and training

Anyone who needs to undergo training to obtain a qualification in Germany to match their equivalent foreign training can stay in Germany for up to three years and work up to 20 hours per week on the side. Part-time work will also be extended in general to students and trainees.

If employers in Germany agree, skilled workers can come directly to Germany and work while the procedure to recognize their qualifications is underway. The stay can be extended to up to three years. Prerequisites are a professional qualification of at least two years and at least an A2 level of German.

Family reunification

Concerning spouses and underage children, skilled workers have to prove they can support their livelihoods, but not that they have sufficient living space. They may also bring their parents or parents-in-law.

Further changes are to come into force on June 1, 2024.

Opportunity card

A points-based "opportunity card" is set to be introduced in June for those with an equivalent foreign qualification. This will allow them to come to Germany for a year to look for work, so long as they can demonstrate financial independence. For others, a university degree or a vocational qualification of at least two years, plus either A1-level German or B2-level English, will be required.

Workers with an opportunity card may work up to 20 hours per week, including during a probation period. The opportunity card can be extended for up to two years for those who have a contract for qualified employment.

Western Balkans regulation

Another regulation affects people from countries in the western Balkans, which doubles the quota to 50,000 workers from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia who may come to Germany. These are countries that have long been on the waiting list to join the EU.

This article was originally written in German. It was first published in November 2023 and republished to reflect new developments.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

The skin beneath Guo's pant leg is rubbed raw and, despite the bitter cold, he's only wearing dusty plastic sandals. The 24-year-old said he bought them in Colombia, on a migration route to the United States favored by people from Latin America and the Caribbean. Now, like Guo, ever more migrants from China are joining them.

Guo's journey began in Shenzhen, in southeastern China. From there, he flew to Ecuador. "We all go to Ecuador [...] because Ecuador is visa-free country for China passport," said Guo. The remainder of his trek was via land, taking him through the Darien Gap, a densely overgrown rainforest that leads from Colombia into Panama. From there, he ultimately arrived in Jacumba Hot Springs, a tiny California town of 600 residents located about 125 kilometers (75 miles) east of downtown San Diego.

Guo sat with his legs curled up in his arms on a plastic tarp he had laid on the ground to fight the cold of the desert morning. In China, he worked as a factory mechanic. His English is broken, but his euphoria is clear. "Very exciting," he said, "because I finally here in the US."

He had crossed the US-Mexico border the night before with 50 other people. Migrants who arrive here enter through gaps in the US border wall, such as at the nearby San Judas Break. They were lined up, waiting for US Customs and Border Patrol agents to pick them up so that they could officially apply for asylum. Several wore down jackets; others were wrapped up in blankets. They had very few belongs with them — only two had suitcases. Most of them were from China.

For Chinese nationals, asylum chances are high

Although the number of Chinese nationals crossing the US southern border is still small in comparison to other nationalities — making up just 2.5% of overall entries according to US Customs and Border Protection data — they are now among the fastest-growing groups among all those seeking entry. From October through January, US Border Patrol agents registered about 19,000 illegal Chinese entries. During the same period in 2021, while pandemic restrictions were still in place, only 55 were registered. 

Michelle Mittelstadt, of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, said most Chinese people chose to enter the United States via the southern border because of stringent US visa rules and long waits for Chinese nationals through official channels.

Despite entering the country illegally, the chances of getting asylum in the United States are fairly good for Chinese nationals. According to the US Justice Department, asylum was granted to over 50% of Chinese applicants, as opposed to only 4% of Mexicans.

"I know all this information from internet, from TikTok," said Guo, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket. Social media channels on video and messaging platforms display the best routes for getting into the US, giving step-by-step instructions, suggesting various modes of transportation, and even listing how much border patrol agents expect to be bribed in each country along the way.

'Take the risk'

The phenomenon of Chinese people entering the United States via the southern border has come to be described by the term "Zouxian," which can roughly be translated as "take the risk." The term's broad dissemination on social media platforms has led many young Chinese to do just that.

"They rely on social media more in China for getting their information," said Ian Johnson, a China expert at the US Council on Foreign Relations. "In the Western countries, you would say: 'What does the mainstream media say about it?' But, in China, there is no way to fact check." Johnson said he was concerned that so many of those young people have no idea what they are getting themselves into.

What's driving Chinese to flee their homeland? "China has lots of problems," said Guo. "Young people cannot afford the house prices in the city."

China's economy is in a downturn, with extremely high youth unemployment, and deflation forecast for the coming year. That could all lead to a spiral of plunging consumer spending, company bankruptcies and mass unemployment. And Johnson said the situation would not just hit the very poor.

"The economic slowdown is affecting broader ranges of the population, including the lower middle class," said Johnson. He added that increased political persecution under President Xi Jinping has also fueled a desire to leave China behind.

Guo's family doesn't know that he has fled to the United States. "I don't have a good relationship with my family, because I have total different opinion about the government, about CCP [the Chinese Communist Party], about this world. I don't like totalitarianism," he said, adding that he's known that the US is a democracy and an economically powerful nation from the time he was a child.

It's unclear how long Guo will have to sit in the desert cold. Border agents are making the rounds in their white Jeeps, but it could be a few hours before anyone is sent by to pick them up, maybe even another night. But Guo said he is not worried about being sent back. His plan once he gets settled in the US?

"Get a job to have better life. Few years later, I want to be a professional truck driver."

This article was originally written in German and translated by Jon Shelton.

Cameroon's government officials say that more than 6,000 teachers, doctors and nurses have left their jobs in public service within the past three months. Europe has long been a destination for most Cameroonians, but increasing numbers are finding opportunities in Canada, where immigration schemes favor young migrants.

The impact in Cameroon has been bad enough to gain the attention of President Paul Biya.

The 91-year-old president, who has led Cameroon since 1982, released a statement lamenting the youth's increasing desire to leave the Central African nation for greater opportunities. In labored sentences, Biya appealed to young Cameroonians' sense of patriotism and duty to remain in Cameroon, saying leaving was "not the solution" to Cameroon's problems.

The message has been broadcast in the capital, Yaounde, by state media ever since Cameroon celebrated its National Youth Day on February 11. At the Government High School Nyom, it blasts through speakers each morning.

Many Cameroonians are eager to leave

But Biya's words seem to fall on deaf ears. Not even teachers like 37-year-old Josian Minta are listening. She already tried leaving Cameroon once for Thailand two years ago. But she was turned away at the Thai airport due to an invalid visa.

"We went to Nigeria, to Abuja. I had to send my passport to Kenya. An agent told me, 'Okay, everything is ready, your visa is ready,'" she told DW. "So, when I went to Thailand, at the airport, the immigration officers took my passport, and they were asking how I got the visa."

Even though Minta said she was happy Biya addressed the issue, primarily due to her unpleasant experience emigrating, she said she would not obey Biya's advice for youths to remain in Cameroon and serve their fatherland. In fact, Minta said she would raise money to legally travel to Canada, where she believes many opportunities and better pay await.

Reasons Cameroonians want to emigrate

Tumenta F. Kennedy, a Cameroon-based international migration consultant, said poor working conditions and low salaries have been a significant push factor. "You can't use moral appeal or patriotism to make people stay," Kennedy told DW, adding that humans are driven by their dignity and ability to meet their basic needs.

"Addressing the mass movement requires efforts on addressing the root causes of migration, such as political instability, economic hardships, lack of job opportunities and last but not the least, security concerns."

Cameroon faces three humanitarian crises: In the far North near Lake Chad, there is insecurity due to the presence of Nigeria's militant Islamist group  Boko Haram. In the Northwest and Southwest regions, Cameroon is grappling with the Anglophone crisis, where separatists are clamoring for independence. The country also has to contend with instability in neighboring Central African Republic.

In addition, Cameroon faces high unemployment, and many other national challenges. Currently, the nation hosts over half a million refugees, and the European Commission estimates that around 4 million people in Cameroon need humanitarian assistance.

Angeline Fua, a 32-year-old pharmacist, says her desire to leave Cameroon increases daily because her salary is way below what other pharmacists earn abroad.

"As a pharmacist, they pay you 80,000 CFA francs ($132, €121). Meanwhile, in other countries like Canada and the United States, you hear of people being paid 500,000 CFA francs and above," Fua told DW, as she complained about the rising cost of living.

"I am a mother. I should take care of my children, pay their fees; I have my plans, and projects, but with what we earn in Cameroon, it is really not possible."

Europe closing doors on emigrants

Kennedy says traditional European destinations have closed their doors to would-be immigrants. "Going to Germany, France or Belgium to study is a nightmare," Tumenta noted, stressing that many Cameroonians now prefer North America. He added that the "best young brains" are leaving Cameroon.

"We have seen an aggressive advertisement coming up in the last few years from Canada and the United States, and this has been done through a very appeasing approach," Kennedy said. "You don't see Canadians advertising study in Canada, but you see Cameroonians that have made their life, they now open an agency back in Cameroon facilitating legal migration to Canada."

Canada has also specifically targeted francophone Africans to work in its French-speaking province of Quebec. And with respect to the US, Cameroon said 2023 saw a 70% increase in people applying for the US Diversity Visa Lottery, also known as the Green Card Lottery, which awards immigrant visas.

Sending money from abroad

African migrants remit billions of dollars to support their families and their investments. According to the World Bank, remittance flows to sub-Saharan Africa stood at a staggering $54 billion in 2023.

Kennedy said that remittances play a vital role not only in the development of the economy but also in democratization processes in Africa. "When the diasporas gain knowledge, they are capable of supporting their families, not just in money, but also ethical values schemes and the democratic principles," Temunta said.  

This aspect has also been supported through development projects by Germany's Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Cameroon, Ghana and Kenya, all of which have sizable diasporas in Europe. 

"Many Africans have an umbilical cord to their families that is more than just the ruling elite that most often is corrupt," Kennedy said, adding that Cameroonians in the diaspora don't care about [President] Paul Biya. "They're interested in the livelihood of their family."

Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu

The German government seems to be working tirelessly when it comes to migration. In January, during her visit Rabat, Morocco's capital, German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Svenja Schulze announced a new migration partnership with Morocco.

Just days later, on February 6, she inaugurated a migrant resource center in Nyanya near Abuja, Nigeria's capital, alongside Nigerian Minister of State for Labor and Employment Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.

In May last year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a migration partnership with Kenya in an attempt to attract skilled workers from the East African nation.

Apart from Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya, the German government has also signed migration partnerships or is in negotiations to do so with Colombia, India, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Moldova.

At the European Union (EU) level, such agreements have been in place for over 15 years. According to the EU-funded Migration Partnership Facility, there are around 50 such partnerships.

'Part of overall concept'

What is the difference between these partnerships, repatriation cooperation agreements or previous migration agreements?

For Joachim Stamp, Germany's special commissioner for migration agreements, "migration partnerships are a component of an overall concept." According to the Interior Ministry, to which Stamp's post is assigned, this includes "a paradigm shift to reduce irregular migration and strengthen legal migration."

He explained that in contrast to general migration agreements, migration partnerships are more about trust-based exchange and cooperation in labor, training and attracting skilled workers. The idea is not only to fight irregular migration but to replace it with regular migration.

Migration expert Steffen Angenendt from the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs considers migration partnerships to be "extremely important" and "indispensable," but pointed out that they are not "a panacea for large migration movements."

Partner countries' interests ignored

"Previous agreements have generally been ineffective or have not achieved the effect they were supposed to," Angenendt told DW. "This is because all the EU migration and mobility partnerships concluded since 2007 have been primarily aimed at reducing irregular immigration."

He added that the problem was that the interests of partner countries had consistently been neglected.

These interests include the expansion of regular immigration opportunities to work, study or train in EU countries, he explained. Angenendt said that as long as these considerations were not considered, countries' political will to fulfill treaty obligations would remain low.

Such obligations include the rapid issuing of documents to nationals living in countries where they do not have the right to stay so they can be moved to their country of origin. They also include the stricter monitoring of those wanting to leave a country.

Most asylum-seekers in Germany fleeing war

On closer inspection, this means that migration partnerships are only partially suitable for reducing migration movements. Most people entering Germany as refugees are from countries where there are massive human rights violations and war.

"We cannot develop migration partnerships with countries such as Syria and Afghanistan," said Stamp in a statement. Instead, he stated that the German government was trying to support "neighboring countries that take in refugees from these countries."

According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, most asylum-seekers in recent years have originated from Syria and Afghanistan. In the past three years, the number of asylum-seekers from Turkey has also increased, accounting for 19% of the total. 

Countries with which Germany has migration partnerships, such as Georgia, tend to be at the bottom of the statistics.

"I am very pleased that we have succeeded in reaching an agreement with Georgia and [will do so] in the coming weeks, with Moldova," said Stamp in an interview with the German television news channel Welt TV in early February.

He added that the migration partnership with Morocco announced at the end of January was already being implemented. "After many years in which things didn't go so well, we now have a trusting relationship," he said.

Controversial deal between Italy and Albania

For its part, Italy has reached a controversial agreement with Albania, which has EU candidate status, to reduce migration. This is sometimes called a migration partnership but does not seem to fit the description.

According to the agreement, Albania will establish two centers this year that will detain asylum-seekers while their applications are being processed. The international advocacy organization Human Rights Watch says the deal breaches international law. 

Compared to Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, German development minister Schulze appears to have struck a different tone regarding migration. But she still wants to see more migrants without the right to stay deported from Germany. 

"Migration is a fact of life," she said at the inauguration of the migrant resource center in Nigeria at the beginning of February. "We have to deal with it in a way that benefits everyone: migrants, countries of origin and the communities that receive migrants."

This article was originally written in German.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

The number of asylum applications to the European Union has risen over the past two years. While there were just under 1 million in 2022, the European Union Agency for Asylum has predicted that this mark could now have hit the highest number since 2015, the year in which a especially large number of people came to Europe and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel coined the slogan: "We can do this!"

Of those seeking protection, more than 350,000 entered the EU irregularly (without permission) in the first 11 months of 2023, according to EU border protection agency Frontex.

But irregular migration only accounts for a fraction of all migration to the 27 member states, according to the EU Commission. By contrast, almost 3.5 million people migrated to the EU in 2022 as refugees with asylum status, or to pursue education or a job, for example.

Europe remains a favored destination for migrants

Experts expect that many people will continue to make the dangerous, and sometimes deadly, journey to Europe in 2024. Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, told DW that record numbers of people are currently fleeing worldwide. A small proportion of them will seek protection in the EU.

"It is likely that next year there will be somewhere up to a million people be seeking protection [in Europe], and most of them actually in need of protection," said Woollard.

David Kipp, who works on German and European migration policy at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, said there were "no signs of a trend reversal at the moment" because the number of crises are increasing worldwide.

Still, accommodating these migrants is manageable, Woollard said, pointing to the example of the way Ukrainians who fled to the EU in 2022 were integrated. According to the European Council, around 4.2 million Ukrainians received temporary protection in the EU in September 2023. Rather than panic about numbers, Woollard suggested that the functionality of European asylum systems be improved.

EU must now implement long-awaited asylum reforms

In mid-December, the European Parliament and 27 member states agreed on a far-reaching reform to EU migration and asylum policy. Before it can take force, it must still be formally adopted by the member states and the EU Parliament in the first half of 2024, pending the clarification of technical details.

Kipp expects the new laws to be implemented in two to three years. For the time being, the symbolic agreement, which he called a "political liberation" for those involved, is in the foreground.

The reform provides for stricter procedures, such as how asylum-seekers with little chance of success will be received at borders. They are to be housed in detention-like conditions — with no exceptions for families with children. A mandatory solidarity mechanism between member states is also set to ease the burden on border countries. It dictates that if a member state refuses to accept asylum-seekers, it must make up for this refusal with financial compensation or other contributions.

A number of human rights organizations have sharply criticized the planned regulations. Woollard is among those who fear that the already fragile right to asylum will be eroded.

"One of the major challenges is that the pact won't resolve some of the key problems," she said. "Because of the increased responsibility of the countries at the borders, which is part of the pact, we expect to see them responding by engaging in more pushbacks and denials of access at the borders."

In terms of feasibility, Kipp said it remains to be seen just how functional the new proposals will be. For example, it remains unclear whether camps would have to be built to accommodate the new border procedures, and how these could be designed in a humane fashion.

Prevention through diplomacy?

The European Union reached a migration agreement with Tunisia in the summer of 2023. In exchange for over €1 billion (about $1.1 billion) in financial aid, the country would prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean for Europe.

However, the agreement has yet to yield any significant results. Meanwhile, relations have reached a standstill in other respects, when in October Tunisian President Kais Saied rejected a multimillion euro payment from the EU as a "handout."

Migration diplomacy will become even more important in 2024, predicted Kipp. The Tunisia deal isn't the EU's first attempt to motivate third countries to keep migrants out of Europe. Similar agreements had already been reached with Turkey and Libya, and another such deal is in the works with Egypt.

But these arrangements are highly controversial from a human rights perspective. What's more, they're not very successful, said Woollard. "There is no real interest or desire from other countries to do Europe's job for it," she added.

The planned border procedures will also require further cooperation with countries that take in rejected asylum-seekers, explained Kipp. But transit countries have no real interest in taking back people who have been deported from third countries.

Migration expected to be key EU election issue

Unofficially, it's said in Brussels that an asylum policy agreement was needed to slow the rise of right-wing populists.

European parliamentary elections are due to take place in June, and migration has often played a major political role in many member state polls — most recently in the Netherlands, where far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders' anti-Islam, anti-immigration Party for Freedom emerged victorious.

However, experts like Kipp are skeptical that the new asylum rules can help to make the issue less explosive, because the reality is that migration will continue.

This article was originally written in German.

When it comes to immigration policy, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already set the tone for the new year. In an interview with the news magazine Der Spiegel in December, he came out in favor of "large-scale" deportations for rejected asylum applicants. 

In the first half of 2023, government figures show that 7,861 people were deported. A reform, dubbed the Repatriation Improvement Act, hopes to increase that number. Changes include an end to announcing deportations in advance and extending asylum detention to 28 days. Police will also have extended powers to search for those ordered to leave, and access their property, such as phones. 

Smugglers and other kinds of criminals, including those without convictions but suspected of criminal associations, could face faster deportations, as part of efforts to "more consistently and more quickly" act against "dangerous individuals," said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

More migration agreements 

Germany is also negotiating agreements with Georgia, Moldova, Kenya, Colombia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, though these would not affect the majority of asylum-seekers who come from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey. But the move is part of a larger effort to designate more countries as "safe countries of origin," which would permit Germany to return people to those places. Georgia and Moldova received this status in November.  

If the European Union revives its deal with Turkey, a move Germany supports, that could facilitate sending people there, as well. 

Germany also wants to process asylum applications faster. Right now, it can take more than two years to handle an asylum claim, according to government data. Proposed changes to the law hope to get that down to between three to six months. 

People going through the asylum procedure are also set to receive fewer benefits. Welfare payments, currently accessible after 18 months, will become available only after three years. Those living in state housing will also have the cost of their food deducted. 

Cards instead of cash for benefits

More German cities and states want to move to a card-based system for benefits, rather than bank payments, to prevent asylum-seekers from transferring the money to others, such as relatives in the country of origin.

Hannover, in central Germany, started its "social card" in December, which works like a normal bank debit card. Areas of the eastern state of Thuringia have also issued around 160 such cards for asylum-seekers. The cardholder must go to the district asylum office every month to top up the card.

Hamburg and Bavaria are set to follow suit with similar programs in 2024. 

More skilled labor immigration 

While conditions look to be getting harder for asylum-seekers, recent reforms hope to make life in Germany more attractive for skilled labor.

A points system, based on language proficiency and professional experience, would grant eligible immigrants a one-year visa, during which time they can search for a job. The income requirement has also been lowered, and it will be easier for the applicant to bring along more family members.  

The EU Blue Card is also to be expanded to cover sectors suffering from labor shortages, such as health care and education.

Starting in March, foreigners from outside the EU can come directly to Germany and start working while their qualifications are being approved. Workers will be able to stay up to three years, including with dependents, as long as they can prove they are able to support themselves.

The special immigration quota for people from countries in the western Balkans is also to be doubled to 50,000 people in June. 

This article was originally written in German.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Nigeria has recently seen the resurgence of a years-old rumor: The story goes that some Chinese companies are importing prisoners from China to work in Nigeria.

The rumor has been making the rounds among Nigerians, fed by a number of Nigerian officials, including Adams Oshiomhole, chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior.

"I have on good authority that prisoners from foreign land are working in Nigeria as construction workers," Oshiomhole said earlier this month. "I even believe and dare say it that there are foreign prisoners who are working in Nigeria. They were shipped to our country to serve their prison terms."

Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju, the newly inaugurated comptroller general of immigration, commented on the allegations last week, without agreeing or denying that prisoners had indeed been brought to Nigeria.

"Saying that Chinese prisoners are brought in and employed in their companies in Nigeria is very subjective," Adepoju said. "It is contrary to the international convention to name a particular race. However, before anybody comes into the country, they are subjected to thorough checks before issuing visa applications."

Such practice would not be tolerated, Adepoju said, stressing that "there is a new sheriff in town."

However often the practice of bringing prisoners to Nigeria is reiterated, proof is hard to come by. Nigerian economist and public policy expert Zuhumnan Dapel spoke with DW about the difficulties of providing facts.

"Immigration, they are law enforcement. They bear firearms to enforce the law," Dapel told DW. "[Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju is] part of Nigeria's national security team. So she will have more information than the common man on the street — but I cannot verify this as an individual."

Nigeria: no place for foreign prisoners

Provided this was actually taking place, legal experts leave no doubt that there is no basis for such a practice.

"The Nigerian labor law, the international labor law and its conventions and the Nigerian Immigration Act — there is nowhere the laws contemplate a foreign prisoner to be given a work permit and to be accorded the status of a worker of a foreign company in Nigeria," Zakari Sokga, a Kaduna-based lawyer, told DW.

"There is also no bilateral arrangement between any foreign country and Nigeria to legitimize prisoners serving prison terms in their own country for whatever crime to come into Nigeria as employees of a foreign company. Such a practice is illegal and it cannot be defended in law".

Zuhumnan Dapel said such instances required action by the comptroller general of immigration. "If Chinese prisoners find their way to Nigeria through the back door, they don't have rights or work permits to work. That's illegitimate, and as the chief immigration officer in the country, it is her [Caroline Wura-Ola Adepoju] job to clamp down on illegal immigrants coming to work in the country."

Why are rumors about Chinese convicts spreading?

Social scientist and China expert Barry Sautman has been looking into rumors of Chinese prisoners working in various African countries for more than a decade. They are persistent in Nigeria and Zambia, but also circulate in countries like Tanzania or Angola, Sautman told DW. During his enquiries, however, he has not been able to produce any hard facts to prove such a practice.

"Not a single person has ever confirmed any aspect of it," said Sautman. The Hong Kong-based academic, who is renowned for his thorough research, has also been subject to criticism for holding views close to the line of the Chinese administration.

Chinese businessmen found talk of prisoners sent to Africa to be unimaginable, according to Sautman. "Of course they have all kinds of problems in terms of bringing their personnel to Africa. And those problems are bad enough with bringing people who are free laborers. To bring somebody who is a convict and have to manage and secure that person — to them is just comical."

One cause of the rumor, Sautman suggested, is the kind of gated and secured compounds found across Africa where Chinese workers live. "Some Africans who I speak to about it have seen these kind of compounds and they think 'this looks like a prison to us'. They also know that in some cases companies will bring their workers out as a group to go shopping, they have entertainment… and then they come back."

Politics behind the allegations in Nigeria

To understand the dynamics behind the narrative of Chinese prisoners working in African countries, the timing can be key. "These allegations most of the time rear their heads during election cycles," said economist Zuhumnan Dapel. "Nigeria was due to elect its next president in 2019, that was when these allegations came up."

At the time there were protests by unemployed Nigerian graduates, Dapel explained. "These protests were obviously that 'you're taking over the jobs we should be doing.'"

Four years later, the argument still circulates. "It's more-or-less like you're making people who can carry out the job effectively, you're making them redundant," one woman in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, told DW. "Why do you get people who are in prison to come and serve in another country? I think it's unfair."

This holds for other African countries as well, said Sautman. "In those African countries where the opposition has made China an issue, the idea that there are Chinese prisoners taking jobs away from local people, that's something that might be useful in their political discourse," he added.

He mentioned from his research in Zambia that several opposition figures who opposed Chinese dominance on the continent loosened their stance once they were in government.

Chinese companies have strong presence in Africa

One major reason for the outcry, it seems, is the strong presence of Chinese companies across Africa, companies that are known to contract workers from China. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University in the US state of Maryland, the number of Chinese (contracted or hired) workers peaked at 12,199 in 2019 — the year the allegations of Chinese companies bringing convicts to Nigeria first made the rounds.

This, together with a perceived lack of transparency in Sino-Africa cooperation, may have laid the ground for the debate to spring up.

"What leaders owe to their people is to be telling the truth, to be transparent," said Dapel. "When there are gray areas people try to understand the unknown, and in an attempt to understand the unknown, they come up with conspiracy theories. And to give no room for conspiracy theories is to come out clean."

Dapel also pointed to the fact, irritating for many, that Chinese companies have a record of outbidding local and international competitors — although, as he explained, China's minimum wage is roughly seven times higher than that of Nigeria.

Sautman, the Hong Kong-based expert, however, has a reason for that. "A lot of Chinese companies don't have the same conception of profits," he pointed out. Whereas Western companies often expected projects to produce at least 30% profit, things are different for Chinese bidders, he said.

"Five to 10% profit is just fine because in the Chinese market, the range of profit is anywhere between 1 and 4%."

Ben Adam Shemang in Abuja contributed to this report.

Edited by: Benita van Eyssen

Each day, buses driven by volunteers travel from the town of Sumy to the Ukrainian-Russian border and back. They're collecting people who have crossed at the Kolotilovka-Pokrovka checkpoint, the former being a village in the Russian region of Belgorod and the latter in the Ukrainian region of Sumy. Since April 2022, this has been the only humanitarian corridor through which Ukrainians from the Russian-occupied territories can reach areas controlled by Kyiv.

On this day, 11 people and a howling dachshund are on the bus to Sumy. The passengers are mostly women and older people, but two teenagers are also on board. Some people gaze wearily out the window, while others doze.

Many have been on the road for several days, having made their escape through the 2-kilometer "gray zone" between Kolotilovka and Pokrovka, which they had to cross on foot, carrying their belongings.

Crawling across the border to Ukraine

"Everyone went ahead, but I was slower," says Viktor, a pensioner from the Luhansk region, about his journey. The double amputee sits next to a folded wheelchair, which gave to his wife, Lyudmila, so she could transport their luggage through the gray zone.

Viktor was determined to crawl the 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) with the help of a homemade pad, but the distance proved to be too much. "As soon as I crossed the border, I knew I wouldn't make it," he says.

When Lyudmila reached the Ukrainian checkpoint, she called for help from volunteers who, along with the Red Cross, are allowed into the area each day to pick up Ukrainians attempting to make the crossing. They met Viktor with a wheelchair and helped him get to the Ukrainian side.

'Among friends now'

Viktor and Lyudmila hesitated to flee for a long time because they knew it would be particularly difficult for him. Getting out of the Russian-occupied territories requires travel via Russia to a European country, which would have been time-consuming and expensive.

The Kolotilovka-Pokrovka crossing was their only option. Once they finally arrived, the checks went quickly.

"I've only experienced so much warmth from my own mother," says Viktor, shedding a few happy tears. "It feels like being among friends now." 

Their plan is to continue on to Kyiv, where their children and a newborn granddaughter are waiting for them.

In Pokrovka, officials check the papers and belongings of people coming from the occupied territories. Border guard Roman Tkach says the strict security measures also include a database search.

Afterwards, a bus takes the new arrivals to a shelter in Sumy where they can bathe and stay for several days before traveling free of charge by train to Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv or Dnipro.

'Drones and Russian soldiers everywhere'

Mykhailo, a former bus driver now in retirement, wants to meet up with his daughter Anna in Kharkiv. He lived in the Kharkiv region for 40 years, in the village of Tavolzhanka. But his house now stands in occupied territory, and is under fire from Russian troops.

"There are drones and Russian soldiers everywhere you look. They have dragged everything out of the houses and dismantled it, such as doors, floor coverings and carpets, because they are building shelters for themselves," he says angrily, describing his former neighbors as "collaborators." 

Many of his neighbors have since moved to Russia, but Mykhailo is quick to emphasize that he refused a Russian passport.

Fleeing the Russian draft

Anastasia, 18, left the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region with her boyfriend Petro [name changed]. Petro, who turned 18 in December, received a summons from the Russian army in March.

"We decided to flee because I was afraid he might just be taken away," says Anastasia. She left her mother, her 7-year-old brother and her 80-year-old grandmother at home.

After arriving in Sumy, Anastasia meets up with her father, a solider in the Ukrainian armed forces. They cry and hug for a long time —they haven't seen each other in two years.

"Someone in the village betrayed that my father is a member of the military," says Anastasia. Men who she describes as representatives of the Russian secret service demanded to see correspondence with him.

"I had deleted it long ago and said that I was not in contact with him," says Anastasia. "They threatened that if we didn't have Russian passports in two weeks, we would be taken away or something else would be done to us. They were very harsh."

She and Petro will now stay with her paternal grandparents, who live in the Poltava region.

Crossing remains open despite shelling

Currently, 20 to 40 people use the humanitarian corridor each day to flee Russian occupation as the war wears on, says border guard Tkach. They come from the occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as from the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. So far, no one has been injured in the attempt.

Crossing is only possible for Ukrainian citizens during daylight hours and only in one direction — from Russia to Ukraine. "Ukrainian citizens have a constitutional right to enter the territory of Ukraine," says Tkach.

Despite increased shelling in the region, the crossing remains open.

This article was originally written in Russian.

Germany's federal government stands divided — once again. And the reason is money. The cabinet needs to agree on its proposal for the 2025 budget, before submitting it to the parliament, the Bundestag, for debate after the summer recess.

However, things are being held up as the center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Green Party and the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP) fundamentally disagree over where savings can and should be made.

In Germany, the federal government and the 16 federal states are obliged to balance their books. The federal government is practically prohibited from taking out loans that exceed 0.35% of economic output in total. This so-called debt brake, enshrined in the constitution, is upheld and protected by Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his FDP party. The SPD and the Greens, however, argue that in times of crisis, the state has to borrow more to be able to invest.

A majority of Germans want spending discipline

Pollster infratest-dimap conducted its monthly "Deutschlandtrend" survey of 1280 eligible voters this week and found that 54% of respondents want to keep the "debt brake" unchanged. 40% percent would like to see the provision reformed.

If the "debt brake" is upheld, the ministries will have to cut back their spending plans by around €30 billion ($32.2 billion) according to latest estimates.

The pollsters asked voters how they would like priorities to be set. The answers reveal that voters find it difficult to agree on where government spending should be cut. Public spending on refugees and welfare payments for the long-term unemployed — known as citizens' income (Bürgergeld) — are areas where almost half of all respondents favored a reduction. In terns of healthcare and care for the elderly as well as family policy, most respondents would like to see spending increase.

The smallest party in the government, the FDP, is strictly opposed to increasing social benefits. Their support has plummeted since the 2021 federal election, meaning they may not even pass the 5% threshold needed for parliamentary representation next year.

The center-right bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) continue to have the strongest voter support and are polling at 31%. The Social Democrats and the Greens are on level pegging at 15%. The far-right populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) garners 18% support. The party has seen support erode across the country in recent months. This is attributed to two factors: the emergence of the Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) as a populist alternative, but also the scandals surrounding the AfD's top candidates for the European Parliament elections and their ties to Russia and China.

The AfD's top candidate for the European Parliament elections on June 9 is Maximilian Krah. He has been accused of accepting money from Russia and China, which affected his voting behavior. A close associate of his was recently arrested and charging with working for the Chinese Secret Service and Krah is also under investigation. In the Deutschlandtrend survey, seven out of ten respondents say the AfD should reconsider its stance on Russia and China.

A majority of AfD supporters, however, see no reason for their party to reposition itself. Instead, three out of four AfD supporters think the overall response to the lawmakers' actions has been exaggerated.

Hardly any interest in the European Parliament vote

According to the survey, the AfD is polling at 15% for the European Parliament election. The conservative CDU/CSU could expect moderate gains, all the other parties are likely to see losses. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) could expect to win 7% voter support in their first-ever election. Its founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, left the post-communist Left Party in 2024 to found her grouping that blends left-leaning economic policies with conservative migration and pro-Russian foreign policy initiatives.

Although half of all voters surveyed say they are very interested in the European Parliament election, the other half say they have little or no interest at all. Interest in this EP election is even lower than in 2019, when voter turnout in Germany was a meager 61.4%. This falls far short of the 76.6% voter turnout for the country's 2021 general election.

EU policies seem to be failing to meet German voter expectations. Two-thirds of respondents said they are "rather dissatisfied" with EU policies. Supporters of the AfD and BSW are particularly critical, while SPD and Green Party supporters are the most satisfied with EU policy decisions.

Forty-one percent of respondents said that immigration, asylum, and integration policies pose the biggest challenge to the EU. Fifty-one percent see deals with countries outside the bloc as a way to reduce the number of refugee arrivals to Europe. The EU is currently negotiating such agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia. The countries have been promised substantial EU funding in return for preventing refugees from traveling on to the EU.

Overall, respondents to the May Deutschlandtrend survey see international conflicts (34%), environmental and climate protection (21%) and the economy (20%) as the other issues on the list of the EU's most pressing problems.

This article was originally written in German.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.