A row over whether to deny refugees entry to Germany if they come from Syria, Afghanistan or Turkey is delaying a new government from being formed in Berlin.
Olaf Scholz's term as chancellor formally ended on Tuesday as Germany's new parliament met for the first time, after Friedrich Merz's conservatives won an election last month. Mr Scholz has been asked to stay on as caretaker until a new coalition is finalised.
Mr Merz campaigned on blocking asylum seekers at Germany's borders – a concept Mr Scholz called illegal under EU law. Mr Merz had hoped to be in power by Easter but that appears doubtful as the two parties squabble in coalition talks, with migration a crucial dividing line.
In a preliminary deal, the parties agreed asylum seekers could be denied entry "in co-ordination with our European neighbours". That leaves room for interpretation on whether countries affected, such as Austria and Poland, would in effect have a veto on taking people back.
A quarter of a million asylum claims were lodged in Germany last year, with more than half coming from Syrians, Afghans and Turks. Voter anger over migration helped the Elon Musk-backed Alternative for Germany (AfD) party surge to second place in the election, with a record 20 per cent vote share.
Ralf Stegner, a negotiator on migration for Mr Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), said he believed the agreed language means Germany will need consent from neighbours to send asylum seekers back. Allies of Mr Merz say Germany is still able to go it alone under the agreement.
"I studied German. You don’t have to do that to recognise that 'co-ordination' cannot mean I kick the door down and give you half an hour’s notice," Mr Stegner told German radio on Tuesday. "We do have to solve the issue of irregular migration, but we have to do it in a way that corresponds to European law, to German constitutional law, and that doesn’t infringe on humanity."
Carsten Linnemann, secretary general of Mr Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), spoke of "points of dissent" as the CDU and SPD negotiate across 17 areas of policy. "A coalition deal can be signed only if there is no business as usual. People did not vote for business as usual," he said, as he called for a change of policy on migration.
Spending package
There is some discomfort on the right at how much has already been conceded to the SPD, after a vast spending package involving more than $500 billion of borrowing was signed off last week. The money will go on upgrading Germany's military and infrastructure as it adjusts to shaky support from Donald Trump’s administration in Washington.
The AfD says the left is dictating there will be "no limits on migration" as Mr Merz's party makes concessions. The far right is seeking greater influence in the new parliament, where it has previously been denied senior roles.
Mr Stegner said the new government should pledge not to co-operate with the AfD, a party he described as "enemies of democracy". Mr Merz broke a taboo shortly before the election by passing a resolution on migration with the AfD's support, drawing criticism from former chancellor Angela Merkel, among others.
"At the end of this parliament, not only should Germany be in a better state, but if possible we should also have ensured that the AfD is smaller and ideally has disappeared from parliament," Mr Stegner said.
Also in dispute is the name of the new coalition. Previous CDU-SPD governments were known as "grand coalitions" because they were by some way the two largest parties, but that no longer holds true after the AfD came second. Mr Linnemann suggested it could be a "let's just do it" coalition.
He compared the stalled coalition talks to a scrappy win against Algeria by the German national football team at the 2014 men's World Cup. "In the end Germany became world champions," he said.
