BERLIN (Reuters) -The German government plans to make it easier to declare certain countries of origin safe under a push to reduce the number of asylum seekers, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Wednesday. Under the plan agreed by ministers in Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government on Wednesday, approval from Germany's upper house of parliament would no longer be required in deciding whether there is persecution in a country that would justify granting asylum to people from there, Dobrindt told reporters. The upper house Bundesrat represents Germany's 16 federal states.