Merz said the returns agreement signed by the UK and France last week should be expanded into a three-way pact with Germany to mount a more coordinated response to irregular migration. “The cooperation between the United Kingdom and France … has to be complemented by an agreement that we aim to achieve between the three of us: UK, Germany, France,” he said via a translator.

Merz’s call for a trilateral agreement comes as pressure grows from the far-right Alternative für Deutschland in Germany, where migration and defence spending have become politically volatile. Critics have accused his Christian Democratic Union party of lacking a clear alternative to populist rhetoric, even as Merz tries to position himself as a stabilising force in Europe.