[PHOTO: AFP]Tunisia’s prime minister yesterday rejected criticism that his country had been slow to take back failed asylum seekers from Europe. Mr Chahed also rejected the idea of Tunisia setting up its own asylum centres to ease the burden on Europe. In an interview in Bild, Chahed said cooperation with Germany on asylum seekers was functioning well. Merkel has been weakened by her open-door migrant policy which allowed more than a million refugees into Germany in the last two years. She also plans to give police greater powers to detain rejected asylum seekers seen as a terrorist threat and to set up ‘federal departure centres’ near airports to house rejected applicants ahead of their deportation.

Source: Standard Digital February 14, 2017 21:00 UTC