
Germany updates: Merz defiant after court blow – DW – 06/03/2025
June 3, 2025 Germany's Merz defends migration plans after legal setback on asylum
Merz said the ruling may narrow his administration's room for maneuver, but there was still wiggle room Image: Thilo Schmuelgen/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended his government's effort to turn away asylum seekers at the country's borders, one day after a court blocked the move.
The emergency decision by the Berlin Administrative Court was a blow for Merz, who has promised he will curb irregular migration.
Speaking in Berlin, the chancellor said the ruling may narrow his administration's room for maneuver, but there was still scope. "We know that we can still carry out [border] rejections."
Merz, who took office last month, said his government would "of course do this within the framework of existing European law."
"We will do so in order to protect public safety and order in our country and to prevent cities and municipalities from being overburdened," he added.
Merz stressed that Germany would have to "maintain controls on the internal" until the situation at the European Union's external borders has improved significantly in his view.
Shortly after taking office last month, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt ordered police to beef up border checks and turn away irregular migrants, even if they apply for asylum.
The court ruling on Monday found that three Somalis who were turned back to Poland on May 9 should have been processed under the European Union's Dublin Regulation for asylum cases. The court found that the government's evidence to proclaim a "national emergency" to justify the measure lacked sufficient evidence.
Merz's immigration policies have been repeatedly criticized as violating both German and EU law.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Int'l Business Times
an hour ago
- Int'l Business Times
Tariff Negotiations With US 'Not Finished', Says Philippines
Negotiations over the Philippines' new 19 percent US tariff rate are "not finished", a key government economic adviser said Thursday, tamping down fears over the deal's potential impact on the agriculture sector. President Ferdinand Marcos flew back to the country late Wednesday after a three-day trip to Washington that saw him emerge from a meeting with Donald Trump having shaved a single point off a 20 percent levy on Filipino goods. What might "seem like a very small concession" was in fact a "significant achievement", Marcos told reporters who questioned if the Philippines -- a longtime US treaty ally -- was getting the short end of the stick. The US president, meanwhile, touted "zero tariffs" on American goods headed to the archipelago nation of 115 million. But Marcos economic adviser Frederick Go said Thursday that tariffs would not be dropped in every category. "The negotiations are not yet finished. Our technical working groups will continue to work with their counterparts from America to finalize the details of this arrangement," he told reporters in Manila. "There are still many things to be discussed." Since the Trump meeting, the Marcos administration has downplayed the potential effects of the tariffs, noting just 16 percent of the country's exports go to the United States, with about two-thirds being electronic components not subject to levies. On Thursday, Go said that while tariffs would disappear for certain agricultural products like soy and wheat, key areas such as sugar, corn, rice, fish and pork would remain protected for Filipino farmers. "I can guarantee to you we studied our biggest industries in the country where we are a significant market producer. We didn't include those in our arrangements with the United States," he said. Go also touted the benefit to Filipino consumers of dropping some tariffs, particularly on pharmaceuticals. "Medicines are expensive in the Philippines. If they are tariff-free, then that can lower the price of medicine in our country," he said. Jesus Felipe, an economics professor at Manila's De La Salle University, told AFP the actual number of Philippine exports hit by the full tariff would likely be low. "That's the number (19 percent) that has been flagged, but our feeling is that many products -- a substantial share of Philippine exports to the US -- will have to be exempted." While predicting the effect on Philippine GDP would effectively be "nothing", Felipe said the "imperialist attitude" with which the United States was treating smaller countries remained worrying. Countries with far larger US trade deficits like China, Mexico and Canada had "much more power and leverage" to fight back, he said. "The Philippines cannot retaliate."


DW
an hour ago
- DW
Germany updates: Munich Airport plans deportation terminal – DW – 07/24/2025
Germany's second-largest largest airport is reportedly planning a "repatriation terminal" to process migrant deportations. Meanwhile, German Catholics have criticized the humanitarian situation in Gaza. DW has Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) said on Thursday that it was "appalled" by the suffering being endured by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and called on the German government to ensure the enforcement of international law. "The humanitarian situation for the civilian population in Gaza is catastrophic," ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). While acknowledging that Israel "has a legitimate right to defend itself against the terrorist organization Hamas," she said that didn't absolve the Israeli government from its responsibility to respect international law. Stetter-Karp also said Israel's military operations were impacting the civilian population to an "unjustifiable" extent and highlighted the acute threat of starvation, illness and death facing children in the besieged enclave. "We are aghast that 875 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid at the distribution centers in Gaza," she said. "This approach by the Israeli government must end immediately!" Stetter-Karp also highlighted the plight of Palestinian Christians in the occupied West Bank, who she said were increasingly the targets of Israeli settler violence. Germany's second-largest airport is reportedly planning to construct a special deportation terminal in which police will process the repatriation of migrants to be deported. According to a planning document seen by the Reuters news agency, the so-called "repatriation terminal" at Munich Airport is to be around 60 meters long and spread over two floors. The facility, which is designed to facilitate "up to 100 arrivals and departures processing up to 50 individual measures and group charter flights daily," is planned for 2028 and will also include a "central check-in in order to coordinate repatriations efficiently," according to the document. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, both of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), have taken a strong stance on deportations of migrants with criminal convictions or rejected asylum claims. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter, of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), said the deportation of those convicted of crimes to their home countries was a sensible measure. "Therefore I don't think it's fundamentally wrong to propose such a terminal," he said. But political support is not universal. Local Green Party politician Gülseren Demirel told the broadsheet: "We are more than critical of a specific terminal for deportations." Welcome to DW's coverage of developments in Germany on Thursday, July 24. Despite Germany's dramatic defeat in the Euro 2025 semifinal last night, we all have to carry on, so here's what's on the agenda today:


Int'l Business Times
an hour ago
- Int'l Business Times
Judge To Rule In Sexual Assault Trial That Rocked Canadian Hockey
A Canadian judge is set to deliver a verdict Thursday in the trial of five professional ice hockey players on sexual assault charges, in a case that has shaken the national sport. The accused -- who all previously played in the National Hockey League -- stood trial over allegations they assaulted a woman in a hotel room following a June 2018 celebration for a national men's junior team. Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, Carter Hart and Callan Foote have denied wrongdoing, insisting the accuser -- whose identity is protected -- consented to a variety of sex acts. The complainant, 20 at the time, met McLeod at a bar in London, Ontario, before having sex with him. That initial encounter is not at issue in the trial, which is about events that occurred after McLeod messaged a team-wide group chat asking if anyone was interested in a "three-way." Prosecutors argued the players engaged in sex acts with the complainant without taking steps to ensure her consent. Defense lawyers said the woman willingly participated and only made the assault allegations after regretting her choices. Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia will deliver her verdict from 10:00 am local time (1400 GMT) in front of what is expected to be a packed London courtroom. Criminal trials in Canada are often decided by a jury, but the case shifted to a judge-only trial after two juries were dismissed. An initial police investigation into the allegations produced no charges. But subsequent media probes revealed Hockey Canada, a governing body, used funds from subscription fees paid by ordinary families for a $3.55 million CAD ($2.6 million USD) out-of-court settlement with the woman, forcing the resignation of Hockey Canada's leadership. London police, under a new chief, re-opened an investigation led by a female detective with expertise in sexual assault. The trial has been shaped by legal definition of consent which, in Canada, "has to be voluntarily and freely given, and it has to be contemporaneous with each and every sexual act," Western University law professor Melanie Randall told AFP. She dismissed the relevance of so-called consent videos made by McLeod, which were presented at trial. "The idea that you could film someone afterwards and say -- 'hey, this was all consensual, right?' -- to prove that there was consent is actually completely discordant with how consent is defined," Randall said. Some commentators have rejected claims the case exposed broader issues in hockey culture, arguing the sport remains a positive force for hundreds of thousands of young Canadians despite a disturbing incident involving several players. But Simon Darnell, a professor of sport for development and peace at the University of Toronto, told AFP "it would be a problem to say that these five men were somehow bad apples and that there's nothing systemic here." Regardless of whether the judge finds the players guilty, Darnell said the conduct in the hotel room needs to be addressed, urging more work to foster a sports culture that emphasizes "a positive form of masculinity." Some commentators say ice hockey remains a positive force for hundreds of thousands of young Canadians AFP