Contemporary Migration in Germany: Features and Trends

The article is dedicated to the current migration situation in Germany. In terms of foreign policy, the author analyses Berlin's approaches to a migration regulation amid growing external pressure on the EU. In fact, Germany is again in the eye of the storm due to the increasing number of potential refugees from troubled regions, including the flow of migrants from Belarus to Poland, and expanding secondary migration. Germany's activities, which are aimed at finding solutions to current challenges (situation in Afghanistan, Belarus, etc.) confirm its interest in shaping new directions of migration policy as a coordinating force of the EU. As for domestic policy, the author studies the relationship between migration processes and electoral campaigns in Germany. Emphasis is made on the German federal election, which ends Merkel's almost 16-year tenure. The article dwells upon a modern party landscape with a focus on Alternative for Germany and suggests possible scenarios for internal political changes related to a migration factor. The topical issues of the migration agenda, which must be solved by the new federal government, are raised in the context of demographic transformations in the society, the COVID-19 pandemic and other developments. The findings and conclusions of this article are of interest to scientists, experts as well as to the representatives of state authorities, which develop and implement migration policy.