Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would hold migrants registered in other European Union countries in transit centres while it negotiates their return, hailing a deal reached with her Bavarian allies that had threatened her government.
She said the compromise between the Christian Social Union (CSU) and her Christian Democrats (CDU) would secure the principle of freedom of movement within the EU while allowing Germany to take “national measures” to limit migrant arrivals.
“We want on the one hand to set up transit centres in Germany and from there carry out returns in agreement with countries from which asylum seekers come and where they are already registered,” Ms Merkel told reporters on Monday.
“As such the spirit of partnership in the European Union is preserved and at the same time an important step to order and control secondary migration and that’s why I think that we have found a good compromise after tough negotiations and difficult days.”