BERLIN (Sputnik) — In a joint article for the German Spiegel magazine, the senior German officials described tackling the refugee crisis at the place of its origin as their foreign policy priority.
"That is why we are making every effort to resolve major crises through political dialogue in Middle Eastern and North African ‘hotspots’," the article said. "This includes negotiations with Russia, which acted constructively during the Iranian nuclear talks."
The German authorities stressed it was important to avoid the breakdown of Syrian government institutions that would trigger another wave of refugees to Europe. "We cannot accept and integrate over 1 million refugees each year," the article emphasized.
Germany is the main destination for the majority of asylum seekers who are fleeing conflicts in Syria and other conflict-torn regions of the Middle East and North Africa.
