Merkel also announced today that Germany and Austria agreed, in a conference call with EC President Donald Tusk, that a special summit of the European Union on the refugee crisis should be held next week.
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“Our country can’t solve the refugee problems of half the world by itself”, said Gabriel, who on Monday predicted Germany will receive as many as one million asylum seekers this year, up from the official forecast of 800,000.
Faymann called on those resisting migrant redistribution “not to stick their heads in the sand”, but help those in need.
Ms Merkel added: “If we start having to apologise for showing a friendly face in emergencies, then that isn’t my country”.
The USA, which has come under pressure to do more to address the refugee crisis, called on Europe to work together to reach a solution.
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“Germany is not ready to be a net payer country in a Europe where everyone wants to join in when they get money, but are not willing to share the responsibility”, he said. Since Hungary is the first EU-state these refugees land in, Hungary is also in charge of registering all of them. Hungary, which implemented new laws Tuesday to stem the flow of migrants into the country, has argued that Berlin is exacerbating the situation by saying it is willing to take them in. “Then there comes a big event and she reacts very, very quickly-in my opinion, too quickly”, Mr. Falter said. Cold tea?While Germany does struggle to cope with the sheer amount of people streaming into the country, it is nothing compared to the struggles these people have been through. On Tuesday, Austria formally notified the European Commission that it would introduce border controls starting Wednesday on its borders with Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia, two days after Germany introduced similar measures on its Austrian border because of the large influx of migrants. Nevertheless, Germany has arrested 43 people since Monday on suspicion of people smuggling.
