In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper, he accused Austria of failing to coordinate the influx of refugees at its borders with Bavaria. “Unfortunately, it’s much worse, it’s so bad that even Bavaria couldn’t have predicted it”. Merkel has insisted there will be no limits and that Germany can cope. “Also, a fence has a gate”, she said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in the strongest intervention yet by a German politician, German interior minister Thomas de Maizière told a news conference in Berlin that Austria’s handling of the migration crisis was “out of order”. Recent polls indicate that support for the conservative bloc is down slightly and that Merkel’s popularity, though still healthy, also has slipped.
Asked about Mr. Seehofer’s ultimatum, Ms. Merkel said that national approaches won’t solve the problem. “In this challenging situation we must behave humanely”. “We can and we will manage this integration”.
The EU’s executive arm has drawn up plans to move 160,000 refugees from Italy and Greece over the next two years to ease their burden. Monday’s figure was the highest since September 30.
The move was a hard test for European solidarity and a number of countries in the eastern bloc criticized Germany’s move, which made their countries conduits for thousands of migrants trying to reach more prosperous northern Europe.
The 27-year-old volunteer from the Czech Republic is spending her work holiday aiding asylum seekers at Serbia’s border with Croatia. But the plan has run into opposition from Ms. Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the Social Democrats, who fear such zones would be impractical and politically indefensible.
Tensions mounted at the key southern gateway into Germany for thousands of migrants, with overstretched German and Austrian officials trading barbs as asylum seekers queued at border posts for hours in the cold.
Sino-German cooperation, said Shi, is not only in the interest of both countries, but also conducive to safeguarding world peace and promoting common development. “These people don’t need to take these risky journeys if there are legal pathways to come to Europe”. “We won’t be able to deal with this in Austria by ourselves”.
While on a visit to Pristina, Kosovo, Wednesday Fischer said Austria is reaching its limited capacities with an expectation of a few 80,000 asylum requests. “That’s a joke”, said Austrian police spokesman David Furtner.
On Sunday, 11 European Union states and three non-EU countries agreed to set up reception centres with another 50,000 spaces in Balkan countries, and send 400 guards to assist Slovenia within a week. “Naturally, we are also discussing a fence, but not closing the border”, Ms. Mikl-Leitner said, referring to the earlier announcement of establishing “strengthened facilities” on the borders.
European Union leaders committed at a weekend summit to helping the Balkans handle the flow of people making their way through the region en route to more prosperous countries.
The most powerful politician in Bavaria has warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel | Getty