European country that openly welcomed migrants now so fed up it's paying them to leave

This European country opened its borders 10 years ago but has now changed its attitude (Image: Getty)

In 2015, the then Chancellor of Germany,  Angela Merkel, opened the country's borders to millions of refugees as part of her Willkommenskultur, or "welcome culture" policy towards immigrants. However, a decade on, the European country has seen a dramatic shift in attitudes towards migration, with the word "Rückführungsoffensive", or "repatriation offensive", now much more favourable.

In April this year, the current chancellor, Friedrich Merz, claimed his country had been "overwhelmed" by refugees and revealed plans to significantly reduce the number of asylum seekers in Germany by returning them to their countries of origin. It is estimated that 700,000 Syrians and 400,000 Afghans are currently living under refugee status, but earlier this week, Mr Merz told Syrian refugees who had not become German citizens that they must return to Syria or risk being deported. “The Syrian civil war is over, there is absolutely no reason to claim asylum in Germany anymore, and we can therefore begin with repatriations,” he said.

Freidrich Merz has claimed Germany has been 'overwhelmed' by refugees (Image: Getty)

Concerning Afghan refugees, Germany is currently in negotiations with the Taliban on a deal that would see regular deportation flights of asylum seekers with criminal convictions back to Kabul.

The repatriation offensive, drawn up by members of Mr Merz’s coalition - consisting of his conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) - intends to use a carrot-or-stick approach, relying on a combination of incentives such as free plane tickets, medical expenses they incur within three months of returning home and cash payouts. This will run alongside tough new legal reforms that would make it much easier for the courts to deport those who refuse to leave.

The lump sum payment is up to €1,000 (£880) per person, up to a maximum of €4,000 per family (£3,500). An additional €200 (£176) of general travel money is also offered per adult, and €100 (£88) for those under 18. This is significantly more generous than the UK's voluntary returns policy, which involves a single payment of up to £3,000 on a card that only works in the asylum seeker’s home country.

However, there are differing reports on the effectiveness of the service in Germany thus far, according to The Telegraph. While a message on the return scheme's website warns of “high volume of applications” and “longer waiting times", figures obtained by Bild, the German tabloid, claim that only 2,869 Syrians have so far taken advantage of return schemes – approximately 0.4% of Syrians with refugee status.

Under Merz's planned reforms, Germany will increase the capacity of migrant detention centres and build new detention blocks (Image: Getty)

This week, it also emerged that the government had started offering generous cash incentives of up to €6,500 (£5,700) to Afghans who had not yet reached Germany, if they abandoned their asylum claims.

If these refugees do not take up such offers, intended reforms to deport them include the “permanent detention” of asylum seekers who commit serious crimes, meaning they can either spend the rest of their lives in a German jail or accept deportation. There are also plans to increase the capacity of migrant detention centres and to build new detention blocks in six of the country’s 16 states where there are currently no facilities to house them.

The coalition also plans to remove legal support for rejected asylum seekers in certain cases to expedite the final stages of their deportation hearings.

Mr Merz’s opponents have claimed he is using refugees as a political football, hoping to fend off the far-Right, anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is now the second-largest party in the country.

Angela Merkel's policy of 'Willkommenskultur' no longer has much traction in Germany (Image: Getty)