German Chancellor Friedrich Merz joined the demands of the CDU and CSU Chadetic parties to limit the influx of young Ukrainians into Germany.
In a telephone conversation with the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenski on Thursday, 13 November, he asked him to "make certain that especially young men from Ukraine do not come to Germany in an expanding number," said the chancellor on the same day in Berlin. They should service in their homeland. “There they are needed,” added Merz.
That's what the coalitions say.
The Bavarian Prime Minister and the head of the Chadetia there – CSU – Markus Söder was the first high-ranking politician to talk in a akin tone. In an interview with the “Bild” newspaper, he called on the European Union and the German government to exert force on Kiev to “control and importantly reduce” the influx of young men fleeing to Germany from Russian aggression.
Similarly, the Secretary-General of the CDU Carsten Linnemann argued.
In late August this year, the Kiev government besides allowed young men aged 18 to 22 to leave the country. Although they are not called into the army, they could not leave. According to data from the German Ministry of the Interior, the number of weekly arrivals in this age group increased from 19 in mid-August to 1400-1800 in late October. In total, over 1.2 million refugees from Ukraine live in Germany.
The Socialists have not yet taken a clear position in this debate. Ralf Stegner, an SPD MP for the Bundestag, said in an interview with Deutsche Welle (DW) that he was uncovering it hard to support calls for young Ukrainians to service in their country as soldiers. – The most crucial thing is that we all contribute to the end of this war as shortly as possible. This seems to me more crucial than looking at a turn in migration policy, which is more frequently a background for specified initiatives. We should treat those who come to us, for example as war refugees, in a reasonable way," said the Social Democrat.
What's the point of Merz?
One reason for Chancellor Merz's appeal to Zelenski is the German government's desire to limit migration to Germany – Stefan Meister of the German abroad Policy Society (DGAP) in Berlin believes. The Chancellor observes with concern that the young men Ukraine needs leave the country. However, he besides wants to implement the electoral promises.
This applies not only to Ukrainians. The nonsubjective of reducing immigration is part of a wider debate on refugees and migrants in Germany. Germany has adopted “more than a million Ukrainians and Ukrainians”, which “feels a burden on the system”, Meister emphasises. The political scientist accuses the Chancellor in this context of "a certain form of populism" and points out that the right-wing populist AfD is exerting force on the CDU in this debate.
As a signal to possible AfD voters, any experts besides interpret the introduced improvement of the civilian benefit. It provides, among another things, that Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Germany after 1 April 2025 will no longer receive a civilian benefit. Their benefits will be compared to those for asylum seekers – which means about EUR 120 little per month. Until now, individuals from Ukraine have received around EUR 560 per period plus costs of housing, heating and wellness insurance. In the future, state aid will fall to around EUR 440 and medical care will be reduced.
– Merz is right – says Winfried Schneider-Deters, a political scientist and publicist surviving in Ukraine and Germany. “It is grotesque that the German chancellor must remind the Ukrainian president that young Ukrainians are needed there – first as soldiers and then for reconstruction (country)”, he adds.
Can Germany limit Ukrainian entry?
Stefan Meister believes that the Chancellor's appeal is besides due to the fact that Germany can barely restrict the Ukrainians' entry. They are entitled to visa-free stay in the EU for 90 days a year. In addition, Europe granted temporary protection to all Ukrainians, including the right to work – this regulation was extended until March 2027. Meister assumes that the increase in arrivals can besides be seasonal: more people arrive in winter, and in spring any return.
President Zelenski has not yet addressed the issue. Meister and Schneider-Deters uncertainty that Kiev will fulfill the Chancellor's wishes. “This would be a very unpopular decision in Ukraine,” says Meister. DGAP expert calls on Europe and Germany to supply more weapons to Ukraine to support the army there.
What do the Ukrainians think in Germany?
Iryna Szulikin, manager of the Ukrainian NGO ‘Vitsche’ in Berlin, shares this view. Ukraine needs men, but besides weapons. It is crucial that European countries, including Germany, yet halt financing Russia's war by buying oil and gas," says Shulikina in an interview with DW. We besides request to realize which people we are talking about. In Germany, young people aged 18-22 have only just graduated from school, parents frequently pay them wellness insurance and inactive have household benefits. Why would they abruptly halt being kids just due to the fact that they come from Ukraine? Their life to date has been marked by eleven years of war, the last 4 of which by a full-scale invasion of Russia.
The activist opposes the claims that young Ukrainians will stay abroad forever. It's manipulation. Many return, many plan to return, many survey to be useful to the country in the future. The claims that the problem can be solved by force on Ukrainian children are not only false but besides hypocritical," he says.
Publicist Schneider-Deters, however, is skeptical. He does not believe that most young Ukrainians will return to their homeland after the war.
Many Ukrainians want to stay in Germany
Every another exile from Ukraine would be ready to return – but under certain conditions, like the restoration of the 1991 borders, safety guarantees through NATO membership and the possible of joining the EU. This is the consequence of a survey published in October this year by the Munich Institute of Ifo. The survey was conducted among Ukrainians in 30 European countries.
W Germany's percent of people wishing to stay is higher: 59 percent of those who escaped in the first months of the war, and 69 percent of those who arrived later, do not intend to return to Ukraine. This is the consequence of a survey commissioned by the national Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) of the 1920s/24. There is no evidence of how many Ukrainians and Ukrainians have returned to their homeland. Estimates say 300-400 1000 people (as of 2022) who returned or moved to another country.
