40pc Germans want Merkel to quit

A poll released on Friday suggested that 40 percent of German would like Chancellor Angela Merkel to resign over her “open doors” refugee policy, which saw more than one million people make their way to Germany in 2015.

Renzi, a 41-year-old who has pushed reforms to revitalise a debt-stricken economy, has in recent months repeatedly criticised both Germany and the European Commission on issues ranging from Berlin’s perceived dominance to EU budget constraints to energy policy.

Merkel has pledged to “tangibly” reduce the number of migrants and asylum seekers arriving this year with a range of measures in Germany, on the European level and with the help of worldwide partners such as Turkey.

Party leaders agreed that a waiting period of two years will be introduced for family reunions of migrants with limited protection status “who are not being personally, urgently persecuted”, said Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the ruling Social Democrats.

“But that is generally not the case”, he said in an interview published in the paper’s Thursday edition. Some 51% said they were anxious about the situation in September.

Germany’s ire on illegal immigration has been intensified following the recent incidence of theft and sexual attacks during the New Year’s celebration in Cologne.

Chancellor Merkel has so far defended her open-door policy for asylum seekers who escaped conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and underlined that a solution to the refugee crisis can only be achieved by addressing the root causes of the problem, through cooperation between other European Union members and Turkey.

“We want those with prospects of remaining to be integrated, but we also want to say that we need those who have no prospect of remaining to return”, Merkel said.

Mr Gabriel said the leaders also agreed to declare Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia safe countries of origin, making it more hard for citizens of those countries to become refugees.

German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Mueller (R) visits Syrian refugees, at the Domiz refugee camp in the northern Iraqi province of Dohuk January 28, 2016.

Finland joined Sweden on Thursday in announcing plans to deport tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers.

The heads of Germany’s 16 states are demanding more government funds for schools and policing, arguing the influx of asylum seekers is pushing their resources to the limit.

The Asylum Package II can be seen as an attempt to recover some approval rating and defuse a brewing point of contention among Merkel’s coalition government, according to the Chicago Tribune.