Brussels, 21/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström welcomed, on 20 March, the decision taken by the German home minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, to allow 5,000 Syrian refugees to settle in Germany in the coming months. She said that the services working under her would work on possible financial support for Berlin. Friedrich explains, as reported by AFP, that Berlin would grant asylum to 3,000 Syrian refugees in June at the latest and then to another 2,000 a little later on in the year. This decision, taken as the situation grows worse and the number of Syrian refugees is surging, will bring to 13,000 the number of Syrians taken in by Germany since early 2012. German teams are due to visit the refugee camps in the countries neighbouring on Syria and priority will be given to families with children and unaccompanied minors. The minister said that Syrian nationals of the Christian faith would also be a priority due to the persecution that they suffer, AFP affirms.
Friedrich called on his European counterparts to follow suit. Sweden is already one of the “good pupils” of Europe, several NGOs say, as it has, with Germany, issued the most international protection statuses to Syrian refugees. (SP/transl.jl)