German coalition parties reach deal on migration

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The parties in Germany’s ruling coalition agreed Thursday that there will be no national unilateralism and no rejections of asylum seekers at the German border.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservatives Union and coalition partner Social Democratic Party (SPD) reached the two-page agreement on strengthened asylum policies, ending a weeks-long dispute that almost toppled the government.

July 2, 2018: German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer leaves a Christian Social Union (CSU) leadership meeting in Munich, Germany. /VCG Photo

As the "transit center" is the focus of SPD's concern over the Union's compromise, German Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said after the meeting that there would be no transit centers, as agreed by the Merkel-led Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Seehofer-led Christian Social Union (CSU) on Monday.

Instead, there would be "transit procedures in existing police facilities," which "has no barbed wire or similar," Seehofer added.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, general secretary of Merkel’s CDU, said the deal laid the groundwork for a more unified approach on migration.

July 1, 2018: General Secretary of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer delivers a statement after a party leadership meeting in Berlin. /VCG Photo

With this, the entire coalition has committed to the goal to order, control and limit migration, said the secretary, adding that this agreement makes it possible that our migration policy is effective, that it remains humane and that it will succeed.

(Cover: German Chancellor and leader of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel speaks to the media after a meeting with Horst Seehofer, German interior minister and leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Berlin, July 2, 2018. /VCG Photo)

(With inputs from Xinhua, Reuters)