News / Germany

Germany sets restrictive rules for refugees

Friday, 29 January 2016 2:02 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 29 January 2016 2:21 AM ]

A wheelchair-bound elderly woman arrives along with other refugees to the village of Miratovac after crossing into Serbia via the Macedonian border on January 28, 2016. ©AFP

Germany has introduced measures that will list Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia as "safe countries of origin," thus leaving refugees from the countries with little chance of winning asylum there.

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel announced the plan on Thursday, adding that the country is also to bar the asylum seekers, who are granted limited refugee protection, from bringing their families in for two years.

The decision comes as German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to take flak for opening the country’s doors to the bulk of the one million-plus refugees, who reached Europe last year.

Gabriel, however, said while the measures were meant to discourage people from reaching Germany illegally, Berlin planned to take in Syrian refugees from camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

A man carries his crying child as refugees cross the Greek-Macedonian border on November 4, 2015. ©AFP

The influx has turned into the worst refugee crisis to have been experienced by the continent since World War II and has threatened to take apart its 26-member passport-free travel zone, Schengen.

Also on Thursday, Finland said it expected to deport around two thirds of the 32,000 asylum seekers that arrived there in 2015.

A day earlier, the country’s fellow Nordic nation, Sweden, said up to 80,000 refugees of the 163,000, who reached there in 2015, stood to have their asylum pleas rejected and be deported over the course of the years to come.

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