German parliament caps refugee family reunions

Germany’s parliament voted on Thursday to resume family reunions for temporary refugees from mid-year but sharply restricted the number of relatives arriving at 1,000 a month. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere defended the law, which passed by a margin of 376 to 298, AFP said. The measure was agreed on Tuesday in ongoing coalition talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative camp and the Social Democrats. The parties hope a new joint government could be launched by late March. Germany, which has taken in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015, stopped family reunions for such “subsidiary-status” refugees in March 2016.