A year ago to the day, in a press conference that would be a turning point in the migrant crisis, Mrs Merkel announced that Germany would rise to the challenge of the unprecedented numbers flooding into Europe.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Italian Premier Matteo Renzi pat Leo, the black Labrador retriever who helped pull out 4-year-old Giorgia Rinaldo from under the rubble of the town of Pescara del Tronto following an ea.
“And in Germany, we ignored both the problem for too long and blocked out the need to find a pan-European solution”. “It is unthinkable that we can accommodate everybody”, Renzi said. At that moment, we also rejected a proportional distribution of refugees, the chancellor admitted.
Support for Angela Merkel’s conservatives has slipped as more voters turn to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), a poll showed on Wednesday, a year after the chancellor prompted criticism by saying Germany would cope with the migrant crisis.
She said Wednesday that she stood by her words.
Giuseppe Saieva, the prosecutor who has opened a preliminary investigation into possible culpable homicide in relation to the disaster, said no one was under investigation at this early stage.
Merkel pointed Wednesday to the controversial EU-Turkey deal signed in March aimed at stemming the flow of migrants to Europe as an example of how cooperation could help “halt illegal migration”.
The two leaders, accompanied by French President Francois Hollande, met on an aircraft carrier off southern Italy on August 22 to discuss the European Union’s many problems. She said such a decision would be taken in consultation with the government and local officials.
“It is important that we make deals with the countries of origin”, Ms Merkel said, giving the example of the deal struck between Italy, France and Germany and Mali and Niger to promote economic growth in the sub-saharan countries.
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Both Merkel and Renzi were asked if Italy would seek budget flexibility from the European Union in providing public funds for anti-seismic prevention efforts.
