Germany introduces new measures to make country less attractive to migrants

Focus

From a payment card that does not allow cash withdrawals, to mandatory community service, Germany is introducing measures to make the country less attractive to migrants. The country remains the destination of choice for asylum seekers within the EU. More than 330,000 people sought asylum there last year: almost a third of all applications in the EU, according to the European Asylum Agency. But the new measures – agreed by the government and regional leaders last November – are beginning to appear in municipalities across the country, especially in eastern Germany, where regional elections are due in September. The far-right AfD party is leading the polls there and its main campaign theme is immigration. Our correspondents report.