BERLIN – German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser reacted with praise to media reports that Germany has apparently ceded its position as the EU’s top destination for asylum-seekers to France.
During the first quarter of 2025, Germany only registered 37,387 applications, placing it third behind France (40,871) and Spain (39,318), according to a confidential report by the European Commission, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday. This would mark a year-on-year drop of 41% in applications to Germany.
Faeser appeared to confirm the figures on Monday in a statement on Germany’s monthly asylum data.
“We can see in the latest figures from the European Union: for the first time in years, the majority of asylum applications are no longer being made in Germany,” Faeser said.
Germany has long been Europe’s main destination for asylum applications. If the first-quarter trend persists, 2025 could become the first year since 2011 in which Germany did not receive the most asylum applications in the EU, according to data from the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA). Prior to Germany’s rise as a destination, the ranking had long been topped by France.
Faeser ascribed the drop in applications to “a strong package of measures, Germany’s own actions and close European cooperation”.
Notably, asylum applications from Syria were also down by 56% in the first quarter, according to Welt, which came after revolutionaries had toppled the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Germany accounts for more than every second asylum application made by Syrians in the EU.
Germany’s current government had stepped up efforts to reduce irregular migration after asylum applications spiked under its watch. In 2023, some 334,000 people had sought protection in Germany, the largest figure since the height of the refugee crisis in 2016.
