Distribution of refugees “in the past was not really a problem because the refugees were initially grateful to be in Germany, and were happy to distribute”, De Maiziere told Austria’s Der Standard newspaper. “Germany has taken an honourable decision” to open its doors to refugees, he added.
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That Germany was in a position to shoulder the additional financial burden from assisting refugees and still produce a balanced budget was, she said, the result of prudent management of the economy with steady growth and record low unemployment.
Germany will this week start deporting asylum seekers from the western Balkans whose applications have failed. If a refugee doesn’t go to the place of his distribution, he “will get neither”.
The number of refugees taken in by the European Union was another question raised by the German interior minister.
Regardless of either statement, Valls did not advocate setting any limits to migrant numbers.
“When the quota is filled, there are no further entries in the year”, he said when asked how his proposal would work.
Although winter weather has inhibited the flow of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea in recent days, they have continued to flee conflict areas and repressive states, such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iraq, as well as Syria, the International Organization for Migration reported.
Under pressure to present a strategy, Merkel said Wednesday that the nature of the crisis – with many variables outside her control – meant “we will have to drive by sight for a few years”.
“But if we limit the number and distribute those entitled to protection, then I no longer see it being as hard as it has been discussed up until now”.
Many asylum seekers destroy their passports upon arrival in their destination country, one of the reasons why Germany has been able to deport only about 30 per cent of those rejected.
While the government officially expects to receive up to one million refugees this year, others suggest the figure could be as high as 1.5 million. Only in November at least 192,827 arrived in the country, estimates from November 24 say.
But, in a nod to growing resistance among her political allies, Merkel insisted “the number of refugees must be reduced” with expedited deportation of those from the Balkans and other safe-origin countries.
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French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has argued that European countries could not accept so many refugees.
