Selective Refuge

THE DOOR IS NOT CLOSED YET, BUT THERE IS FINALly a move to narrow the entry. After months of seeking consensus, Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling coalition and the opposition Social Democrats have come to terms on a revision of Germany's liberal asylum laws. The parties insist that the fundamental right of asylum for the persecuted has been preserved. But the new provisions will allow the government to turn away individual asylum seekers who enter Germany from a nation that observes the Geneva Convention on refugees. Prospective claimants passing through Poland or Czechoslovakia, for example, on their way to Germany can be returned to those countries. The move, politicians hope, will stem the influx of foreigners and reduce xenophobia.