Germany has suspended admissions of refugees via a UN resettlement programme, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, as a new coalition government that is expected to tighten immigration rules prepares to take office.
Migration has been a contentious issue in coalition negotiations between Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the centre-left Social Democrats, which are expected to conclude within weeks.
The conservatives are advocating a stricter approach to asylum seekers in response to rising support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and several violent incidents involving refugees.
The two sides have struck a preliminary agreement to end voluntary federal admission programmes for refugees such as the U.N. programme - the only one currently active - and not to launch any new ones, according to a document seen by Reuters.
Germany has participated since 2016 in a European Union resettlement scheme that accepts refugees selected by the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. Most come from Turkey, Egypt, Jordan or Kenya, or from Libya via Rwanda.
The ministry said 4,711 people had arrived in Germany through the programme since 2024, out of the 13,000 refugees that Germany has promised the European Commission it will take in for 2024 and 2025 combined.
Despite the suspension, admissions that are already well advanced, with concrete commitments, will go ahead, a ministry spokesperson said.
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Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 1st of August, covering the latest developments.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Saturday he would hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal could be reached quickly to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said wildfires that swept across France were now under control. Authorities warned that risks remained as Greece and Spain continued battling active blazes across parts of Europe.
Yemen's Houthi-run maritime coordination body on Saturday denied reports that it planned to charge commercial ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It said no such decision had been made and that passage through the strategic waterway remains free.
Two firefighting helicopters collided while battling a major wildfire in Greece on Sunday, as emergency crews fought to contain blazes that have destroyed more than 100 homes northwest of Athens.
A deadly mass crossing from Morocco has placed renewed attention on Ceuta, a small Spanish territory on the North African coast that serves as one of the European Union’s most politically sensitive external borders.
Hungary is facing five critical days as record-low water levels in the Danube force the country’s only nuclear power plant to shut down for the first time in more than four decades, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Sunday.
The death toll from the migration crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has risen to 72, while more than 48,300 migrants have returned to Morocco, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported Sunday.
Wildfires burning across more than 250,000 acres (around 1,011 square kilometres) in Washington state have prompted evacuations and widespread power outages, with officials warning that high winds and extreme heat are making firefighting efforts more difficult.
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