German interior minister: Security and migration taken care of

Berlin (dpa) – Germany is in a good position with regard to internal security and migration, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told parliament in Berlin on Thursday during the annual debate on the budget.

“I have never seen a general debate in which the issues of internal security and migration have played virtually no role at all,” Seehofer said during the debate on the 2020 budget.

“And that is a good sign, because it means that things are in order,” he added.

Over the first 10 months of 2019, there had been 96,000 applications for asylum, representing a good sign in the light of higher figures in previous years, Seehofer told the Bundestag.

Changes to the law passed by the grand coalition had shown “a major positive effect in practice,” he said.

Seehofer defended the decision to take in migrants from Mediterranean countries who had been rescued at sea. He noted that over the past 18 months fewer people had arrived in Germany than arrived in a single day by crossing the land borders.

Stricter border controls were having an effect, he said, noting that over the course of 11 days 40 people had been detained who were being sought under arrest warrants.

Almost 100 people had been detained who had entered Germany despite a block on them.

The budget for the Interior Ministry for 2020 has been put at 15.05 billion euros (16.56 billion dollars) slightly down on the 2019 figure. The budget provides for an additional 3,900 posts devoted to domestic security.