France and Germany propose tightening the rules for obtaining citizenship and legalizing migrants.
French Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin stated in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche that the country has "reached the limit of its capabilities in terms of integration and assimilation."
He proposed a three-year moratorium on legal immigration. According to him, it is also necessary to amend the Constitution to establish mandatory quotas — based on the number of arrivals, their countries of origin, and qualifications. Darmanin also advocated that work residence permits should no longer automatically grant the right to family reunification.
The impetus for a new wave of discussions was fresh data on migration. According to Darmanin, in 2025 France issued 4.5 million residence documents, which is 3.2% more than last year. One in three documents was issued for family reunification.
The tightening of migration policy is also being discussed in Germany. According to Welt am Sonntag, in 2025, more than 309,000 people obtained German citizenship — a record number since the start of statistics publication in 2000.
The German authorities expect further growth — starting in spring 2027, many Ukrainian refugees will be able to apply for citizenship and will meet the required five-year residency period.
Representatives of the ruling CDU party are already demanding a revision of the citizenship law reform adopted in Germany in 2024. This reform reduced the minimum residency period from eight to five years and allowed retaining previous citizenship when obtaining German citizenship.
Alexander Tromb, a representative of the CDU/CSU faction on internal policy, stated that the minimum residency period for naturalization should be increased back to eight years and that the possibility of dual citizenship should be abandoned.
He also proposed banning the acquisition of a German passport immediately after obtaining protection status. Initially, in his opinion, a migrant should earn permanent residency. He suggests a new system for granting residence permits that foreigners must first "earn."
One of the conditions should be at least 60 months of contributions to pension insurance. Only after that can the countdown to naturalization begin, reports The Moscow Times.
