Germany wants to limit migration from North Africa by declaring Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia “safe countries”, officials from the ruling coalition said on Monday, cutting their citizens’ chance of being granted asylum to virtually zero.
The initiative follows outrage over sexual attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve blamed predominantly on North African migrants that sharpened a national debate about the open-door refugee policy adopted by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Europe’s most populous country and largest economy has borne the brunt of the continent’s biggest refugee influx since World War II.
Some 1.1mn asylum seekers arrived in the country in 2015, most of them fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Merkel’s conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), agreed yesterday that Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia – troubled by unrest rather than full-blown conflict – should be designated safe countries.
On Sunday, Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Berlin could cut development aid to countries that are not willing to take back citizens whose asylum applications were rejected.
Asked about Germany’s policy towards Algeria and Morocco, Gabriel told ARD television: “There cannot be a situation where you take the development aid but do not accept your own citizens when they can’t get asylum here because they have no reason to flee their country.”