Germany is set to speed up the deportation of asylum-seekers after weeks of disputes within the government coalition over the “overwhelming” surge of new refugees.

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the agreement on Thursday to set up three to five reception centres nationwide that would expedite the process of either accepting or repatriating refugees.

“We have reached these agreements in the spirit that we will manage this,” she said, alongside Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel of the centre-left Social Democrats and Horst Seehofer of the CSU party.

For weeks, Seehofer has been urging Merkel to reduce the number of the refugees in the country, saying that local authorities are struggling to deal with the refugee influx.

Seehofer called the deal reached with Merkel “very, very good,” and said that his relationship with Merkel has been “cemented again,” but stopped short of withdrawing his threat to file a legal challenge against the government over its refugee policy.