Germany's lower house moves to reject Maghreb, Georgia asylum claims

Former Bundestag President Rita Suessmuth gives a speech during a ceremony at the lower house of parliament Bundestag in the Reichstags building to mark 100 years of women's suffrage in Germany, in Berlin, Germany, January 17, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, voted to reject asylum claims from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and the Caucasian state of Georgia on Friday by designating them as safe countries.

But the move, long advocated by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and part of a crackdown on immigration following a political shift to the right in Germany, must clear the upper house, where the opposition Greens have said they will block it.