Refugee on the way to Germany
• Sweden tightens legislation on granting asylum to refugees. "Over the past two months, we have taken in 80,000 refugees," Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said at a press conference on Tuesday, November 24. "I regret to admit that Sweden is no longer able to accept more people under current conditions."
The government in Stockholm plans to temporarily tighten asylum laws for the next three years, reports the dpa news agency. In particular, this means that fewer refugees will be granted the right to permanent residence, residence permits will be limited in duration, and the process of relocating relatives for family reunification will be made more difficult. In addition, passport checks on public transport will be intensified. According to Löfven, these measures could help more refugees find asylum in other EU countries.
• Norwegian authorities also announced they plan to complicate existing refugee reception rules. Thus, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in an interview with NRK that from November 26, Norwegian shipping companies will be required to check passengers' passports. She emphasized that the strengthening of border control is directly linked to the Swedish government's statement on limiting the number of refugees. "We cannot wait for the same thing to happen to us," Solberg stressed. "Therefore, we must now take a number of appropriate measures."
• The head of the German government called on EU countries to agree on quotas for legal migration, which would help reduce the number of refugees arriving in the EU. "Simply closing borders will not solve the problem," Angela Merkel said in a speech to the Bundestag on Wednesday, November 25. According to her, it is necessary to block the smugglers bringing refugees to EU territory and "replace illegality with legality" by establishing "quotas for legal migration" agreed among EU countries.
The goal, according to Angela Merkel, should be "reducing the number of migrants arriving to us." Turkey plays a key role in achieving this task, the German chancellor believes. According to Deutsche Welle, Germany is ready to provide the financial support needed for Turkey to resolve the refugee situation and create conditions for their initial placement in the country.