From Berlin, Esme Nicholson reports for our Newscast unit:
"In addition to the provision of extra funds for federal states and town councils, the German government plans to increase the capacity of asylum-seeker reception centers, finance an additional 3,000 federal police officers and invest more in integration and language courses.
"But there will also be restrictions. Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro will be added to the list of 'safe' countries and cash allowances for asylum-seekers will be replaced by goods and services. Speaking to journalists this morning, Merkel stressed that Germany cannot solve these issues alone.
" 'The entire EU needs to make an effort. We can't do this without European solidarity,' Merkel said.
On Monday, French President Francois Hollande announced his country will accept 24,000 migrants over the next two years.
"The EU is pushing its member countries to each take in more migrants, to share the burden with front-line nations such as Italy and Greece," NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports, noting France's plan. "But other eastern E.U. nations such as Poland and the Czech Republic say setting migrant quotas would be unacceptable."