In an interview with The Washington Post, de Maizière - a longtime ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the point person on the refugee crisis in Germany - added that German attempts to aid refugees had been misinterpreted by migrants in far-flung nations such as Afghanistan as a green light to come to Europe.
That, he said, needs to change.
"We cannot close Europe," he said. But, he added, "we cannot open Europe totally for millions and millions of poor people in the world or even for all of those coming from conflict zones. Impossible."
Germany is moving to slash cash benefits for asylum seekers, instead offering in-kind assistance such as food. De Maizière also said it would take "years" before refugees currently in Germany would be able to bring close family members into the country.
"The number is too big," he said. "It has to be checked."
To date, its welcoming policies and lucrative benefits have made Germany by far the single biggest destination for refugees coming to Europe, a situation some European leaders have said Berlin brought on itself by adopting such a generous stance. To reduce the strain on Germany, de Maizière called for European Union countries to adopt minimum and maximum benefit standards so that no one country becomes an outsized draw.
Such a plan, however, is certain to face resistance in nations such as Hungary and Slovakia that have taken a hard line against refugees.
"We have to find a common European solution," he said. "In the end, we would need really nearly to have the same social benefits."
On Thursday, de Maizière made headlines by suggesting that the crisis had gotten "out of control" after Merkel's decision this month to allow in tens of thousands of refugees who had been barred by Hungary from going deeper into Europe. Leading German media outlets, including Spiegel Online and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, interpreted the statement as de Maizière indirectly criticizing Merkel's move.
On Friday, however, he insisted that Merkel had not made "a mistake" by opening Germany's border, and had simply made a humanitarian gesture in response to the "horrible pictures" emanating from Hungary. But he did say that her decision - as well his own statement in August that Germany would probably receive 800,000 asylum seekers this year - had had an "unintended side effect" of sending a message to migrants that "they can all come."
"There is a dilemma," he added. "There is a domestic public and an international public, and all domestic press conferences, speeches will be misused abroad."
He said, for instance, that his own estimate of 800,000 asylum seekers was wrongly interpreted as an invitation "to please hurry up because after the 800,000, then the door is closed. So it was a huge pull effect."
On Friday, de Maizière, a former top negotiator on German reunification, also reiterated a plan he fielded earlier this month that goes beyond the one approved this week to redistribute 120,000 asylum seekers arriving in Greece to nations in the E.U. De Maizière called for a "generous" new quota for the total number of refugees allowed into Europe, above which European nations would simply send refugees to secure camps in the Middle East and Africa.
He suggested that 500,000 to 1 million refugees could be safely airlifted to Europe directly from conflict zones. He said French officials had warmed to his idea.
Other nations, particularly Britain, have also endorsed the notion of bringing refugees directly from the Middle East. But the sheer numbers de Maizière is proposing - along with a plan to divvy them up between all E.U. nations - is likely to face strong opposition in several nations.
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