Germany has vowed to slash the number of refugees allowed across its borders as public services become "overwhelmed" with immigrants.
Incoming conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that schools and hospitals have struggled to cope with the number of asylum seekers being allowed entry into the country.
Fresh off his electoral victory, Merz is hard-pressed to stick to his party's promise to crackdown on immigration after the unprecedented success of anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) in February.
Speaking to German media, the leader said: "Our position is that these figures need to significantly come down.
Immigration was a key issue in the lead-up to the German election on February 23
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"It can no longer be a six-digit figure - towns, communities, schools, hospitals and infrastructure are overwhelmed."
The promise made by the Christian Democrats' (CDU) leader has followed his party's pledge to cooperate with the centre-left Social Democratic Party, drawing up a list of policies for the Government to implement over the next four years.
As it stands, it is believed that its package of migration policies will be the strictest that have been adopted by the German state for decades.
One proposed policy intends to increase the number of "safe countries" so that officers are permitted to return migrants back to Algeria, India, Morocco and Tunisia.
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Another piece of legislation attempts to tighten rules around the deportation of foreign criminals - an issue which has similarly plagued Britain.
An agreed deal between the two political groups - which is currently being voted on in the Bundestag - has agreed to launch a "repatriation offensive" on illegal migrants.
However, the two centrist parties have butted heads on the issue of establishing asylum processing and return centres abroad, advocated by the CDU.
Meanwhile, electoral runner-up Alice Weidel belittled the "grand coalition", accusing Merz of U-turning on his manifesto promises.
Much to Merz's dismay, the AfD topped a major national poll last week
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Last week, she claimed that Merz had "ripped off and lied to the citizens with false election promises".
And, much to Merz's dismay, the AfD topped a major national poll last week.
The Ipsos poll put the CDU/CSU on 24 per cent, while Weidel's party crept up to 25 points. Olaf Scholz's popularity remained unchanged at 15 per cent.
Weidel lauded her party's success, sharing on X: "The people want political change - and not a 'business as usual' coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD."
