Germany to make it easier to declare countries safe in drive to curb asylums

By Ludwig Burger

(Reuters) -The German government announced plans on Wednesday to make it easier to declare certain countries of origin safe under a push to reduce the number of asylum seekers by eliminating the need for parliamentary approval.

Under the plan agreed by ministers in Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government, approval from Germany's two houses of parliament would no longer be required in deciding whether there is persecution in a country that would justify granting asylum to people from there, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.

"We will be able to determine safe countries of origin by way of government decree," Dobrindt told a news briefing.

"We are making sure that we will not have situations again, where decisions on safe countries of origin by the government and the lower house never pass the upper house," he said.

Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, is the main legislative body, where the ruling parties have a majority, while the upper house Bundesrat represents Germany's 16 federal states.

No country has yet been assessed under the new scheme, a government spokesman said.

Merz won a national election in February pledging a crackdown on migration and to turn away asylum seekers at the border, but the tougher stance ran into legal obstacles this week and has drawn criticism from opposition parties.

Migration is among German voters' biggest concerns and a backlash against new arrivals has contributed to a rise in the popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The cabinet also agreed on Wednesday to abolish mandatory legal counsel provided by the state for asylum seekers facing expulsion.

"These are essential steps that are part of a whole raft of measures to bring about the asylum transformation," said Dobrindt.

A Berlin court this week ruled against the expulsion by German border police of three Somali asylum seekers. Merz said on Tuesday the verdict could restrict the migration crackdown but would not stop it.

(Reporting by Ludwig BurgerEditing by Gareth Jones)