Prime Minister Narendra Modi today condemned the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris that has killed at least 100 people, saying that the “news from Paris is anguishing and dreadful”. French police said a Syrian passport was found on the body of one suicide bomber in Paris, The Associated Press reported.
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Peter Altmaier, Mrs Merkel’s national refugee coordinator and the head of her chancellery office, tried to downplay the disputes with Mr de Maiziere as a “communication misunderstanding”.
“The discontinuation of identity checks has also facilitated infiltration by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists into Europe”, it claimed.
“In the face of the tragic acts in Paris, we do not see the political possibilities to implement (this)”, he said.
“Let us give this answer to the terrorists by living our values with confidence, by reaffirming these values for all of Europe, now more than ever”, she said, telling France, “we cry with you”.
Merkel chaired an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss “the situation in France and all related questions”.
Returning migrants to their first point of official registered entry would help achieve fair distribution in Europe, Merkel said.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy canceled his attendance at a party event in Barcelona ahead of next month’s elections and called a meeting of his security council in Madrid.
“There is no cause that justifies yesterday’s atrocities nor beliefs that can shelter them”, Rajoy said in televised remarks.
Mark Rutte, a centre-right liberal, announced a tightening of border checks and said the Dutch too were “at war” with Islamic State, but added: “We are not at war with a country, a belief or with Islam”. Cameron is due to join Merkel and Rajoy as well as President Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin of Russian Federation at a Group of 20 summit in Turkey starting Sunday. Hollande canceled his attendance immediately after the attacks.
“The people in Paris are enduring a nightmare of violence, terror and fear”, Merkel said in Berlin. “It will now stir up a debate domestically about whether the government should be more careful about who they are letting in”. This is an attack not just on Paris; it’s an attack not just on the people of France.
“Anyone who tries to overthrow a few one like her will destroy himself”, Karl-Rudolf Korte, a political scientist at the University of Duisberg-Essen, said, adding that she was protected by an “armour of popularity”.
Markus Soeder, a member of Bavaria’s regional government, called Saturday for still greater efforts to ensure that authorities know who is entering the country. “We can’t allow illegal and uncontrolled immigration”.
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De Maiziere, a longtime Merkel confidant, pushed back.
