"We want to see common European contingents," said the deputy government spokesperson Georg Streiter on Monday in the government press conference. The solution cannot be for Germany to take in all the refugees coming to Europe.

A common European approach

Peter Altmaier, Head of the Federal Chancellery and Refugee Coordinator, also called for a solution based on common European contingents. In an interview with the German television channel ZDF on 22 November he reaffirmed, "We want to see a solution based on contingents. That means that we want to lay down numbers of refugees that will be taken in without being forced into illegality and falling into the hands of human traffickers."

Back in September Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière stressed in an interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit (on 3 September) that there can be no upper limit on justified political asylum. "But under normal circumstances there are limits to how many people a country can take in. Many experts say that for a country the size of Germany, net migration of 400,000 to 500,000 people is already a lot." Thomas de Maizière continued, "We want to integrate the people who come to us for desperate political reasons, and who are entitled to stay here. To do this we need schools, we need housing, we need jobs and we need a cultural consensus."

Cooperation with Turkey

Over and above this, Peter Altmaier underlined on Sunday (22 November) that for any pan-European solution involving contingents, agreements must be reached with Turkey. To this end the EU will engage in talks with Turkey with a view to achieving a contractual agreement.

Second asylum package on its way

The second asylum package adopted by the German government is still at the consultation stage. The law was originally to be given its first reading in the German Bundestag this week. Peter Altmaier explained that even if negotiations take longer at this stage, it is better to ensure that the law is "completely watertight" in the final analysis.

On 5 November the German government agreed on a common asylum package. For certain groups of asylum-seekers a faster procedure is to be introduced. They include applicants from safe countries of origin and those submitting a repeat application. They are to be housed in special reception facilities. Individuals granted subsidiary protection are not to be allowed to bring family members to Germany for a period of two years.