French, German leaders urge unified response to Europe migrant crisis
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have called on all European Union (EU) countries to find a unified response to the bloc’s migrant crisis.
“We must put in place a unified system for the right to asylum,” Hollande said in a joint press conference with Merkel in the German capital, Berlin, on Monday.
He also stressed that the 28 EU countries should organize their policies regarding the crisis and share the burden of helping asylum seekers fairly.
“Rather than wait, we should organize and reinforce our policies, and that is what France and Germany are proposing,” Hollande said, calling the influx of migrants from the world’s crisis-hit countries “an exceptional situation that will last for some time.”
‘Vile’ and ‘shameful’
Merkel, for her part, said European countries should act together to tackle the chaotic situation in Greece and the western Balkans, where desperate migrants are arriving in a bid to continue their journey to reach wealthier countries in the continent.
She also denounced the recent anti-immigrant riots in the town of Heidenau in eastern Germany.
“It is vile for far-right extremists and neo-Nazis to try to spread their hollow, hateful propaganda, but it is just as shameful for citizens including families with children to join them” in the protests, said Merkel.
Last week, anti-immigration protesters took to the streets in Heidenau for three consecutive nights to express their anger at the use of a former superstore to house a group of asylum seekers. The protests turned violent as police tried to disperse the demonstrators, who were wielding fire extinguishers and hurling stones.
Germany is expected to take in 800,000 asylum seekers in the current year.
The EU has been struggling to find a response to the unprecedented influx of migrants fleeing war and unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.
A record 107,000 migrants were at the EU borders in August, according to the bloc’s border agency, Frontex.
The largest migrant group by nationality in 2015has been Syrians – followed by Afghan migrants.
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