Berlin (AFP) - Germany, overwhelmed by people fleeing war and poverty, is trying to deter asylum seekers from the Balkans, a region now considered safe at least from armed conflict.
Ideas range from cutting refugees' allowances, to channelling them into separate holding camps, to campaigns in their home countries to discourage them from travelling to Europe's biggest economy.
About half of Germany's 300,000 asylum applications since January have come from the southeast European region that includes Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
In the first five months of 2015, more than 32,000 Kosovars arrived, for example -- more than came from war-torn Syria.
"The high number of migrants from these countries diverts resources that we need to take care of people from the crisis regions," said Manfred Schmidt, head of the Office for Migration and Refugees.
Germany, now Europe's number one destination for asylum seekers, has struggled to process, house and feed a record number, which is expected to top 500,000 this year. ...
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