Germany is to take in a further 10,000 refugees from North Africa and the Middle East as part of a European Union programme, the newspapers of Germany’s Funke Media Group said on Thursday.

The German government agreed to the plan earlier in the week, EU Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, told newsmen.

“As other EU member states had agreed to take in 40,000 refugees, the resettlement programme’s targets had been achieved and would probably be exceeded,” Avramopoulos said ahead of a meeting in Berlin with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

According to Avramopoulos, the German government is once again to the fore in matters of international solidarity.

The programme announced last summer is intended to provide a direct and secure route to Europe for those most in need of asylum.

By the autumn of 2019, no less than 50,000 people mostly from North Africa should find a new home in the EU.

The EU has funded the programme with 500 million euros (620 million dollars).

Avramopoulos has urged Germany to remove border controls introduced during the refugee crisis that saw 890,000 people seek asylum in the country in 2015.

Europe’s border-free Schengen zone allows for the reintroduction of controls during periods of crisis, however Avramopoulos said he could not allow this to continue indefinitely.

“We must return speedily to the normal functioning of the Schengen system,” Avramopoulos said.

Germany has announced it plans to extend controls on its border with Austria beyond a May deadline. (dpa/NAN)