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At a party meeting, the German chancellor is said to have criticized the Austrian stance on the reception of refugees.
Unlike Austria, Germany agreed to accept 150 unaccompanied minors from the burning Moria refugee camp on Lesbos. The different attitudes now provoke a small discrepancy, which even causes German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) to attack Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP).
As “Bild” reports, Merkel is said to have described Austria’s position on the issue of a European refugee policy as “not good” at an internal meeting of the CDU presidium on Monday. The attitude of the Netherlands was also criticized. The Chancellor is said to have said that you cannot ask for an economic discount on the membership fee and at the same time stay out of the migrant distribution.
Merkel: global concept of European migration policy
Meanwhile, Merkel has pledged her support if a new reception center is to be established on the Greek island of Lesbos. Focusing only on a number of refugees that Germany should host is “the wrong approach,” Merkel said in Berlin on Monday after a videoconference with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In doing so, it apparently reacted to the demand of SPD leader Saskia Esken to immediately host a high number of four-digit refugees in Germany.
There are 13,000 people on Lesbos living in a very difficult situation, Merkel said. Of these, 400 minors have already been taken to the continent. The question now is how to proceed. “Germany stands ready to provide support when it comes to establishing a new reception center for refugees on Lesbos.” Said center must meet the standards. The situation in Moria was not acceptable, Merkel said.
Athens has voiced ideas “which I very much support,” Merkel said. Consequently, actions should no longer be taken only from the Greek side, but also from the European side. In any case, it would be a pilot project to think about. So, sovereign rights would initially fall to Greece. There had to be a contract so that there could also be European trade. She believes that this is a really important step in the Europeanization of immigration policy, Merkel said.
As an EU state with external borders, according to Merkel, Greece has taken a lot of responsibility. “That is why Greece deserves support,” the foreign minister said. This should be organized as European as possible. It is also a question of which group of people is particularly in need and who can be further accepted. “All of this has to be put into one package. There is absolutely no point talking about a number right now.” Everyone knows that the European task of migration policy cannot be solved by Germany alone.
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