Skip to main content

FM
Former Member

European migrant crisis: Germany pledges 6 billion euros for asylum seekers; France vows to take 24,000 ahead of EU quota announcement

Updated about 2 hours ago, 07 September, 2015, Source

 

Germany has pledged an extra 6 billion euros to help the record numbers of desperate refugees crossing its borders as France vows to take in 24,000 over the next two years.

 

The move comes as Germany expects at least 10,000 more asylum seekers to arrive Monday, after 20,000 came at the weekend, an official said.

 

The estimate of asylum seekers coming mostly on trains and buses from Hungary via Austria to the southern city of Munich was "10,000 plus," said Upper Bavaria district president Christoph Hillenbrand.

 

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the scenes of spontaneous solidarity from hundreds of Germans who greeted families fleeing wars in Syria and beyond at railway stations with gifts and welcome signs were moving and "breathtaking".

 

"What we are experiencing now is something that will occupy and change our country in coming years," she said as French president Francois Hollande vowed his country would take a larger share.

What we are experiencing now is something that will occupy and change our country in coming years.

German chancellor, Angela Merkel

Under pressure from Paris and Berlin, the European Union (EU) is readying fresh quotas that would see the two top EU economies take nearly half of the 120,000 refugees to be relocated under a plan by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

 

According to Mr Juncker's proposal for mandatory quotas for EU states, which is set to be unveiled Wednesday, Germany would take 31,443 and France 24,031, to relieve the burden on Greece, Italy and Hungary, a European source told news agency AFP.

 

Spain would take 14,931 under the plan, the source said.

 

Migrant numbers have spiked since Friday, when Austria and Germany threw open their borders and eased travel restrictions to allow in thousands who had made it to Hungary, which has balked at the influx.

 

Chancellor Merkel's government — which expects to accept 800,000 asylum seekers or four times the amount it took last year — earmarked the additional six billion euros ($9.6 billion) to house and feed the newcomers for the next year.

 

"In these weeks and months, Germany is the destination for an unprecedented number of refugees who are seeking protection from war, persecution and distress," the ruling coalition said after overnight talks.

 

Hundreds of refugees and their children again sat on blankets and suitcases early on Monday outside Berlin's refugee registration centre in scenes repeated across the country.

 

But the government said the country's economic strength would enable it to meet the challenge.

 

As Europe's biggest economy, Germany has taken in by far the EU's largest number of refugees, but it has also spearheaded a push for fairer burden sharing across the 28-country community.

 

But with Europe deeply divided on how to deal with the crisis, the UN's refugee chief said the crisis could be "manageable" if European countries all pulled their weight and agreed on a common approach.

 

"The European asylum system is deeply dysfunctional, it works badly," UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres told French broadcasters.

 

"Some countries make the necessary effort, and the effort of many others is nearly non-existent."

 

He said the situation could be tackled "if everyone agrees on a joint action plan".

 

Europe's share of refugees 'ridiculously small', Turkey says

Turkey, which has borne the largest burden of refugees fleeing neighbouring Syria, lashed out at the "ridiculously small" share EU countries were accepting.

 

In a local German newspaper, Turkish prime minister Ahmed Davutoglu hit out at "Christian fortress Europe", pointing out that Turkey had already taken in more than two million people from war-torn Syria and Iraq.

 

His remarks came just days after Hungary, which is building a fence to keep out migrants after some 50,000 new arrivals in August alone, raised the alarm over the impact of mainly Muslim refugees on Europe's "Christian culture".

 

Pope Francis urged a different approach in a Sunday sermon, urging "every parish, every religious community, every monastery [and] every sanctuary in Europe" to take in a family.

 

"Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of asylum-seekers fleeing death [as] victims of war and hunger who are hoping to start a new life, the gospel calls on us to be the neighbour of the smallest and the most abandoned," he said.

 

The Vatican's two parishes will take in two refugee families "in the coming days", he said, setting an example for more than 50,000 other parishes across the continent.

 

In Italy, prime minister Matteo Renzi referred to the death of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi, who was found dead on a Turkish beach last week, to make a passionate speech to members of his Christian Democratic party in Milan.

 

He pointed to a picture of the drowned Syrian child and said there were "thousands like him".

 

"We need rules, we cannot take in everyone," said Mr Renzi.

 

"But nothing will ever stop us trying to save a life whenever possible. This is our challenge."

France to prepare air strikes against IS in Syria: Hollande

Meanwhile, France will launch surveillance flights over Syria from Tuesday with a view to conducting airstrikes on Islamic State positions, Mr Hollande said on Monday.

 

"I have asked the defence ministry that from tomorrow surveillance flights can be launched over Syria, allowing us to plan airstrikes against Daesh," Mr Hollande told a press conference in Paris.

 

"What we want is to know what is being prepared against us and what is being done against the Syrian population," he added.

 

He also confirmed that France would not send ground troops into the country, saying it would be "inconsequential and unrealistic".

 

He said it was unrealistic "because we would be the only ones" and it also risked being "transformed into an occupation force".

 

"So we won't do it ... it's for regional forces to take their responsibilities. France, however, will work to find political solutions," he said.

 

He said that finding a political transition that sidelined Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was "essential".

 

"The transition is an essential point. Nothing must be done that can consolidate or maintain Bashar al-Assad," he said.

 

France has so far only carried out airstrikes against IS in neighbouring Iraq. Mr Hollande said the French military had so far carried out 200 strikes in Iraq.

 

Britain is also thought to be considering military strikes in Syria, with prime minister David Cameron trying to organise a new parliamentary vote on the issue in the coming weeks.

 

British MPs rejected such action two years ago, in a decision that embarrassed Mr Cameron and drew criticism from the United States.

 

In an interview with The Guardian, UN security general Ban Ki-moon said the UN security council had failed Syria because of power divisions which had prevented moves to end the conflict in Syria.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

What we are experiencing now is something that will occupy and change our country in coming years.

German chancellor, Angela Merkel

European migrant crisis: Germany pledges 6 billion euros for asylum seekers; France vows to take 24,000 ahead of EU quota announcement, Updated about 2 hours ago, 07 September, 2015, Source

Profound statement on the composition of countries in about 30 years.

FM

Struggling Germany urges neighbours to do more to ease refugee crisis

Paul Carrel and Georgina Prodhan, Reuters, First posted: Monday, September 07, 2015 12:05 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, September 08, 2015 12:12 AM EDT, Source

 

BERLIN/MUNICH - Germany told its European partners they must take in more refugees on Monday as it struggles to cope with record numbers of asylum seekers and as police in Hungary used pepper spray on migrants who broke out of a reception centre at the border.

 

Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking after a weekend in which 20,000 migrants entered Germany from Hungary by train, bus and on foot, described the influx as "breathtaking" and tried to reassure the country the crisis was manageable.

 

Dramatic images from last week, especially a photograph of a Syrian toddler drowned on a Turkish beach, have created new political pressure to open doors, even in countries that argued previously that taking in too many migrants could make the problem worse by encouraging others to make dangerous voyages.

 

"I am happy that Germany has become a country that many people outside of Germany now associate with hope," she said at a news conference in Berlin.

 

But she and her vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, coupled their message of optimism with a warning to EU partners who have resisted a push from Berlin, Paris and Brussels to agree to quotas for refugees flowing in mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

"What isn't acceptable in my view is that some people are saying this has nothing to do with them," Merkel said. "This won't work in the long run. There will be consequences although we don't want that."

 

Gabriel said that if countries in eastern Europe and elsewhere continued to resist accepting their fair share of refugees, the bloc's open border regime, known as Schengen, would be at risk.

 

"This would be a dramatic political blow for Europe, but also a heavy economic blow, also for those countries that are saying they don't want to help now," he said.

 

At Roszke, on Hungary's border with Serbia, around 300 migrants broke through a cordon around a reception camp and set off down the wrong side of the motorway towards the capital Budapest, Reuters witnesses said.

 

Police were unable to prevent their escape despite using pepper spray as migrants scuffled with officers.

 

Only months after Europe narrowly averted a Greek exit from the euro zone, the refugee have emerged as the bloc's biggest challenge.

 

Greece asked the European Union for aid on Monday to prevent it being overwhelmed by refugees, as a minister said arrivals on Lesbos had swollen to three times as many as the island could handle.

 

The crisis also spilled into Denmark as some 800 people entered the country from Germany and tried to head to Sweden while politicians argued about Copenhagen's immigration policies.

 

MAIN ENTRY POINTS

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is due to unveil new proposals on Wednesday on how to distribute refugees among member states.

 

An EU source told Reuters that under Juncker's plan, Germany would take on more than 40,000 and France 30,000 of the 160,000 asylum seekers the Commission says need to be relocated from Italy, Greece and Hungary, the main entry points to the EU for refugees arriving by sea and land.

 

The 160,000 that Juncker wants to redistribute within the EU are just a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and economic migrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East who have reached Europe this year on leaky boats across the Mediterranean or over land through the Balkan peninsula. Many have died en route.

 

Germany has announced it is letting Syrians seek asylum regardless of where they enter the EU, suspending normal rules and accelerating a flow of migrants north and west from the edges of the bloc.

 

Just last month, more than 100,000 asylum seekers reached Germany, which is preparing for 800,000 this year, around one percent of its population, a move with little precedent for a large Western country.

 

France said it would take in up to 1,000 migrants currently in Germany as a matter of urgency, before the adoption of the European Commission plan.

 

Britain would resettle 20,000 refugees from Syria over the next five years, Prime Minister David Cameron announced, responding to a growing public clamour for his government to do more to help.

 

Some rights groups have criticised the United States for not doing more to help. A White House spokesman said the Obama administration was "actively considering a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including with regard to refugee resettlement".

 

Pope Francis called over the weekend for Christian communities across the continent to offer sanctuary.

 

Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, a right-wing populist whose hard line during the crisis has drawn both praise and criticism, reiterated his opposition to quotas on Monday, calling this debate premature. Juncker's proposal would exempt the main entry countries Hungary, Greece and Italy from taking relocated refugees.

 

Hungary's defence minister, Hende Csaba, resigned because the armed forces were being too slow in building a border fence to keep out refugees and migrants.

 

Officials in Bavaria, the southern German state that has become the entry point for migrants arriving from Hungary via Austria, said about 4,400 had arrived in Munich on Monday. Another 1,500 were on trains heading on to cities elsewhere in Germany.

 

At Munich's international trade fair grounds, three halls have been given over to the effort, with more than 2,000 camp beds and a dining hall with hot food.

 

The few rucksacks and plastic bags the travellers had arrived with were scattered between the beds. Some children kicked a soccer ball around outside.

 

"For the families it's too hard. For the single guys I think it's good to come. If somebody has some money or a passport for a visa, it's better," said Hassan Halabi from Aleppo in Syria, who hopes to go to Konstanz on the Swiss border.

 

Merkel's welcome to migrants has been praised by human rights groups. But there were signs of dissent within her conservative camp, with officials from the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party of her Christian Democrats, criticising her handling of the crisis. There have also been attacks on shelters, including two early on Monday.

 

"There is no society that could cope with something like this," CSU leader and Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer said. "The federal government needs a plan here."

FM

A child walks as part of a long line out of Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015. Over 150,000 people seeking to enter Europe have reached Hungary this year, most coming through the southern border with Serbia, and many apply for asylum but quickly try to leave for richer EU countries. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

FM

People walk in a long line along the highway near Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015. Over 150,000 people seeking to enter Europe have reached Hungary this year, most coming through the southern border with Serbia, and many apply for asylum but quickly try to leave for richer EU countries. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

FM

Refugees and migrants are handed out bottles of water as they wait to cross the borders of Greece with Macedonia, near the village of Idomeni September 4, 2015. European Union officials are preparing to push EU governments to take in many more asylum-seekers from pressured frontier states, including Hungary, and seeking to overcome resistance to a quota system in eastern Europe. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis

FM

Refugees and migrants wait to board a passenger ship heading to the port of Piraeus, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 4, 2015. European Union officials are preparing to push EU governments to take in many more asylum-seekers from pressured frontier states, including Hungary, and seeking to overcome resistance to a quota system in eastern Europe. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

FM

A migrant woman holds a baby as others line up at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 4, 2015. European Union officials are preparing to push EU governments to take in many more asylum-seekers from pressured frontier states, including Hungary, and seeking to overcome resistance to a quota system in eastern Europe. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

FM

Refugees and migrants prepare to board a passenger ship heading to the port of Piraeus, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 4, 2015. European Union officials are preparing to push EU governments to take in many more asylum-seekers from pressured frontier states, including Hungary, and seeking to overcome resistance to a quota system in eastern Europe. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

FM

Refugees and migrants board a passenger ship heading to the port of Piraeus, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 4, 2015. European Union officials are preparing to push EU governments to take in many more asylum-seekers from pressured frontier states, including Hungary, and seeking to overcome resistance to a quota system in eastern Europe. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

FM

Refugees and migrants board a passenger ship heading to the port of Piraeus, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 4, 2015. European Union officials are preparing to push EU governments to take in many more asylum-seekers from pressured frontier states, including Hungary, and seeking to overcome resistance to a quota system in eastern Europe. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

FM

Refugees and migrants board a passenger ship heading to the port of Piraeus, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, September 4, 2015. European Union officials are preparing to push EU governments to take in many more asylum-seekers from pressured frontier states, including Hungary, and seeking to overcome resistance to a quota system in eastern Europe. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

FM

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×