This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
GERMANY has temporarily suspended its participation in a United Nations resettlement programme, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) confirmed today.
The programme is intended for refugees in urgent need of protection, such as children, victims of torture, or those in need of medical treatment, who cannot remain in their first country of arrival.
UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Germany spokesman Chris Melzer said that suspension began “during the coalition negotiations” currently under way between the conservative Christian Democrat (CDU/CSU) bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD).
He said that the group “assume that it will continue,” once there is a new interior minister.
Migration has emerged as a flashpoint in coalition talks, with the conservative bloc pushing for asylum controls amid growing support for the far-right Alternative for Germany and violent incidents involving refugees.
A draft coalition agreement seen by Reuters suggests that both sides have provisionally agreed to end voluntary federal refugee admission programmes wherever possible and not to launch any new ones.
As part of the EU’s resettlement efforts, Germany had planned to take in up to 6,560 people this year.
