Merz’s promise to close the borders to illegal entries on day one at the chancellery in Berlin has a Trumpian ring to it.

The US president has pushed through a flurry of executive orders and actions to tackle illegal immigration since he re-entered the White House this week.

In Germany, both the centre-left chancellor and Merz are conscious that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been consistently polling second, has made immigration a signature issue.

AfD leader Alice Weidel has called for a vote in the German parliament next week on closing Germany’s borders and turning back irregular migrants. “The knife terror of Aschaffenburg must have consequences now,” she said on social media.

Some critics will argue that Scholz and Merz’s move to take a tougher stance now comes too late. Others will argue that a rightwards shift by mainstream parties could simply bolster the AfD’s arguments.

In any case German politics does not lend itself to a presidential-style set of day-one decrees, given the necessity of forming coalitions with other parties.

The leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party, Christian Lindner, said Merz would not be able to introduce such changes if he went into coalition with the Social Democrats or Green party.

Nancy Faeser, who is both interior minister and a party colleague of Olaf Scholz, suggested that “some people are now making largely fact-free arguments in election campaign mode”.

“I can only warn very clearly against abusing such a terrible act for populism, that only benefits the right-wing populists with their contempt for humanity,” she said.

The 41-year-old man who was killed in Wednesday’s knife attack has been praised, apparently for coming to the aid of the kindergarten group and saving the lives of other children.

Another two-year-old of Syrian origin suffered knife wounds to her neck.

A man of 72 suffered serious stab wounds and a kindergarten teacher suffered a broken arm.