Germany news: SPD criticizes migration reform plan

Germany's Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said the government will re-examine a partial embargo on the supply of weapons to Israel.

For more on Germany's policy toward arms exports to Israel, visit our Middle East blog.

Germany is preparing to pledge at least €100 million ($116 million) to help in the reconstruction of Gaza, German Development Minister Reem Alabali-Radovan said Sunday.

The exact amount is yet to be determined.

Read more about Germany's pledge for the reconstruction of Gaza in DW's Middle East blog.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is seeking a consensus among the leaders of the ruling coalition on the multi-billion-euro savings plan needed to balance the 2027 federal budget.

Klingbeil also serves as vice chancellor.

"We have already started this process," he said in an interview to broadcaster ARD on Sunday, adding that he hopes a package of measures will be ready around the turn of the year.

The coalition intends to present a comprehensive package that would achieve about €34 billion ($39.5 billion) in savings, according to the minister, who leads the junior coalition partner Social Democrats (SPD).

Klingbeil emphasized that the package must be seen as fair. He said the plan will likely focus on social services, long-term care, pensions and healthcare.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's governing coalition is led by his conservative CDU/CSU alliance. In August, Merz said that Germany's welfare state "can no longer be financed."

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday drew attention to the nearly 700 million people worldwide suffering from hunger.

The United Nations has set the goal of a world without hunger by 2030 and, speaking at an event in Berlin marking Welthungerhilfe Week (World Hunger Aid Week), Steinmeier said: "We must not fail on the way there, despite all the setbacks that unfortunately exist."

The aid week is an annual campaign organized in Germany by the humanitarian Welthungerhilfe (WHH) organization to raise awareness of global hunger.

Ten years ago, the UN set the goal of a world without hunger for 2030, but this objective is unlikely to be met. According to a UN report published in July 2025, about 673 million people suffered from hunger last year, around 8% of the world's population.

The report stated this was a slight decrease compared with 2023 (8.5%) and 2022 (8.7%).

In his speech, Steinmeier pointed to the causes of hunger, citing wars and climate change.

Steinmeier is a German politician who has served as Germany's president since 2017. 

Germany's president serves as the head of state, but the role is mainly ceremonial.

Voters in the eastern German city of Frankfurt an der Oder chose an independent over the Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate on Sunday, blocking what would have been the far-right party's first urban win in a mayoral election.

Axel Strasser won with 69.8% of the vote against AfD candidate Wilko Möller, according to preliminary results. Turnout was 49.4%.

In the first round on September 21, Strasser received 32.4% of the vote and Möller 30.2%, while candidates from the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SDP) were eliminated.

Frankfurt an der Oder is in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, located directly on the border with Poland. It is distinct from Frankfurt am Main, the much larger financial hub in western Germany.

Frankfurt an der Oder is the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg with around 57,000 residents.

The AfD is classified as right-wing extremist by the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Slightly fewer people attended this year's Cannstatter Wasen Volksfest in Stuttgart, with about 4.2 million visitors recorded over 17 days compared to 4.6 million last year, organizers said Sunday. The drop followed a record turnout in 2023.

"We had a festival with less-than-ideal weather conditions," said Andreas Kroll, managing director of the in.Stuttgart events company. Despite the cool, variable weather conditions, he said the atmosphere remained positive and the safety plan worked well. On October 3 and again on Saturday, police briefly closed access to the grounds due to overcrowding.

Police described the festival as largely peaceful, even though reported crimes rose by about 20% compared to last year.

"We saw more offenses against emergency personnel but fewer thefts and property damage," said Jörg Schiebe of the Bad Cannstatt police. He added that while there was "a higher level of aggression," incidents remained low given the large crowds.

The Cannstatter Volksfest is widely considered to be the second-largest beer celebration in the world after the Munich Oktoberfest.

 

Police in northeastern Germany said they have received new leads into the disappearance of an 8-year-old boy who went missing two days ago.

The youngster, who was identified by his first name, Fabian, went missing from the town of Güstrow in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Friday.

According to the police, the boy had left his mother's house with permission, possibly to see his father, who lives in another town. He did not return afterward.

A police spokeswoman told DPA news agency that they had received additional tip-offs overnight into Sunday, adding they were examining bus video footage among other potential evidence.

"There is no indication of a crime," the spokeswoman said.

Police planned to conduct further interviews in the boy's neighborhood on Sunday, having used sniffer dogs the previous day to trace the boy's steps.

Güstrow, a town with a population of 30,000, is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Rostock.

The European Union began the gradual rollout of a new border entry system for non-EU nationals, which could lead to longer processing times at border entry points.

From Sunday, non-EU nationals will be required to register their biometric data, including fingerprints and facial images when entering the bloc. The so-called Entry/Exit System (EES) will be required once every three years.

The rule doesn't affect EU nationals or those holding residence cards for member states.

Amid concerns that the new process could lead to long delays at border checkpoints, several EU countries have opted for a phased roll-out.

Germany, for example, will introduce the EES at the northwestern Dusseldorf Airport first, before the system is expanded to larger airports in Frankfurt and Munich and later to external sea borders.

The EES is the first step in a new EU border system. In late 2026, a paid travel authorization is to become mandatory for non-EU nationals who do not require a visa.

Germany's ruling coalition of CDU/CSU conservatives and left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD) has seen a modest rebound in approval ratings, according to a new poll.

Some 28% of respondents said they were satisfied with the government's performance, up five points from three weeks ago.

Approval for Chancellor Friedrich Merz personally rose to 27%, a gain of four points.

The poll was conducted by Insa this week for Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Even so, a majority (63%) of Germans surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with the government and 62% disapproved of Merz himself.

If a parliamentary election were held on Sunday, the governing coalition would collectively reach just 38%, short of a majority in parliament. The moderate conservative bloc would gain 24% of the vote, while the SPD would reach 14%

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) retains the largest single-party support at 26%.

The center-left Social Democrats (SPD) have hit out at a proposal by their conservative coalition partners to reform deportation procedures for failed asylum seekers in Germany.

The plan by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt would allow authorities to detain rejected asylum seekers for an unlimited period, especially those who have committed crimes or pose a threat to security.

Dobrindt's proposal comes as the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, seeks to speed up deportations across the 27-member bloc.

Andy Grote, the SPD's Interior Senator for the state of Hamburg, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper that "an indefinite detention without the prospect of actual deportation would undoubtedly be unconstitutional."

The interior ministries of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Lower Saxony also raised constitutional concerns.

Grote, who is a spokesperson for all SPD-led state-level interior ministries, said the key to increasing the deportation rate would be found by simplifying rules on returning rejected asylum seekers to the EU state they first entered.

Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that Dobrindt's proposal also includes the deportation of Syrian nationals whose asylum applications had been rejected. They would be banned from returning to Germany for social visits.

The proposal was, however, backed by Siegried Lorek, Baden-Württemberg's State Secretary for Migration, who said: "When it comes to repatriation, we are particularly focused on repeat and intensive offenders, as well as those who pose a threat."

Guten Morgen from the banks of the Rhine River in Bonn.

Our blog will keep you updated on the latest developments in Germany over the weekend, including:

• Criticism from one half of Germany's coalition over a plan to detain failed asylum seekers indefinitely, especially those with a criminal background
• How Germany is implementing the European Union's new Entry/Exit System (EES), which is being phased in from Sunday, to track the movements of non-EU visitors by recording biometric data, including fingerprints and facial recognition
• And a welcome bump in approval ratings for the ruling coalition, made up of the conservative CDU/CSU and center-left SPD, although a majority of Germans remain dissatisfied

We will also be offering in-depth analysis on selected topics of German politics and society.

Several people were injured in a shooting in a marketplace in the town of Giessen in the state of Hesse in central Germany, according to reports.

Read more about the incident here.

Berlin police have launched an investigation after two cases of graffiti vandalism were reported early on Saturday in the city's government district.

Around 6:50 a.m. (0450 UTC), officers discovered orange paint markings — including a circle with a dot and an overturned euro symbol — on a low wall outside a Bundestag office building on Unter den Linden.

While police were documenting the damage, Bundestag security reported similar graffiti on a construction site banner near the Brandenburger Tor S-Bahn station.

The State Security Division of Berlin's criminal police is leading the investigation into both incidents.

A roughly 2,000-year-old Roman silver treasure has been revealed near Borsum in the Hildesheim district of northern Germany, the Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung has reported.

According to the paper, a metal detectorist found the hoard in 2017 but kept it hidden for years before turning it over to police in April. 

Sebastian Messal, an archaeologist and regional director at the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation, said the discovery is of "enormous scientific importance." So far, about 450 silver coins, several silver bars, a gold ring and a gold coin have been recovered. The items are believed to date from the first century AD, Germany's DPA news agency said.

Messal said the size of the hoard puts it "among the top five, perhaps top three, finds in Lower Saxony." 

Prosecutors in Hildesheim had opened an embezzlement investigation against the 31-year-old finder but later dropped the case due to the statute of limitations. The man said he initially hid the treasure at home out of fear of legal consequences.

Archaeologists have since excavated the site and uncovered additional coins. Messal's team hopes the find will shed new light on life and trade in the Hildesheim region during the early Roman Empire. It remains unclear whether the treasure was buried by Romans or looted by Germanic tribes.

Prosecutors are seeking a venue change for a possible new rape trial against the German man suspected in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office has asked the Federal Court of Justice to overturn the man's October 2024 acquittal and hold a new trial at the Göttingen regional court, spokesman Hans Christian Wolters told the DPA news agency. The goal, he said, is to ensure an impartial handling of the case.

Last year, a Braunschweig court acquitted the 48-year-old of multiple sexual assaults in Portugal, citing insufficient evidence. Prosecutors have appealed the decision, and Germany's highest civil and criminal court is now reviewing it for legal errors. The defense has called the acquittal the only correct outcome.

Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison sentence with subsequent preventive detention. The Göttingen court has not previously been involved in the case. It remains unclear when the Federal Court of Justice in Leipzig will issue a ruling.

The man, a convicted sex offender, has drawn international attention because German investigators suspect him of involvement in the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann in Praia da Luz, Portugal. He has not been charged in that case and is presumed innocent.

The 48-year-old was released from prison last month after serving a separate sentence for rape in Portugal.