Chancellor
Angela Merkel has said the "breathtaking" flow of migrants into Germany
will "occupy and change" the country in the coming years.
She said Germany would speed up asylum procedures and build extra housing, but called on other EU states to help.
French
President Francois Hollande said quotas for EU countries to relocate
120,000 migrants were being planned and that France would take 24,000.
Meanwhile, the flow of migrants across Europe shows no sign of easing.
On Monday, large numbers of people were reported to be streaming into Hungary across its southern border with Serbia.
In other developments:
The UK will accept up to 20,000 refugees from Syria over the next five years, David Cameron has told MPs
Spanish media say police fired rubber bullets at migrants in a detention centre in Valencia after about 50 tried to escape
Police in Macedonia scuffled with thousands of migrants trying to cross into the country from Greece
Hundreds of migrants are in a stand-off with Hungarian police on the border with Serbia. BBC News producer Imelda Flattery is tweeting from the scene
UN chief Ban Ki-moon, in an interview with the Guardian, said the UN Security Council was failing Syria because it was divided on the issue
At the scene: The BBC's Imelda Flattery on the Hungary-Serbia border
Image caption
Migrants staged a sit-down protest on the Hungary-Serbia border
Migrants sit in the road in front of the police line as photographers mingle with them.
An empty coach waits to pick them up and start the journey to Budapest. There are about 400 people here.
A voice on a loudspeaker tells the migrants in English that buses will come soon.
They
are not convinced. They continue their sit-down protest but police warn
them that buses can't get through if they don't move.
Other exhausted families trudge along the railway line, heading to the border camp. Follow Imelda on Twitter Peston: Why Germany needs migrants more than UK Hungary migrant crossings 'echo 1989 and 1956'
Thousands
of migrants who had arrived in Hungary made their way through Austria
to Germany over the weekend. Those arriving at Munich station were
cheered by locals.
Mrs Merkel thanked volunteers who had helped
and welcomed those arriving, saying they had "painted a picture of
Germany which can make us proud of our country".
However, she
said that although Germany was "a country willing to take people in", it
was "time for the European Union to pull its weight".
Germany
- which expects 800,000 asylum requests this year - could face costs of
€10bn (£7.3bn) next year because of the influx, she added. About 18,000
people arrived in Germany over the weekend.
New quotas drawn up by the European Commission are set to be unveiled on Wednesday.
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Monday
(in Spanish) that a total of 160,000 migrants would be resettled,
including 66,000 who have arrived in Greece, 54,000 in Hungary and
40,000 in Italy.
Migrants find hope in Germany: The BBC's Anna Holligan in Munich
The
Heidemannstrasse reception centre - a converted army barracks - is
providing temporary shelter to some of the thousands of refugees and
migrants hoping to make Germany their permanent home.
We meet two
Syrian families who arrived via Austria eight days ago. A pregnant
woman and five children were among them. They had arrived in Europe by
boat and then walked to Serbia before being driven to Germany in a car.
They had come to the centre looking for clean clothes and a doctor but neither were available.
I
asked one of the fathers why he didn't stay in Turkey. He told me: "I
have two kids, my wife is pregnant, I can't get work in Turkey, there is
no future for my family there. I didn't escape from war to live on the
streets."
Germany is offering what many other countries don't - hope. What can the EU do to solve the crisis? How mobile phones play vital role for migrants What is the UK doing to help?
Hungary
had previously blocked migrants travelling to Western Europe, but
dropped restrictions on Friday after struggling to cope with thousands
camping in its capital, Budapest.
It is continuing work on a
fence along its border with Serbia and its parliament passed tough new
legislation on illegal immigrants last week.
Speaking on Monday,
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said "as long as we can't defend
Europe's outer borders, it is not worth talking about how many people we
can take in".
Those migrants trying to reach Germany were seeking
a "German life" rather than physical safety, he said, adding that if
the stream continued it would endanger Europe's "Christian welfare
states". Image caption
People rest on Hungary's border with Serbia with the new border fence visible on the right
Mrs Merkel has become a hero to many migrants for
allowing large numbers to cross into the country from Hungary. But the
Bavarian Christian Social Union, a sister party to Mrs Merkel's
Christian Democrats, have accused the chancellor of sending a "totally
wrong signal".
On Sunday night, there were two fires at
accommodation centres for asylum seekers in Germany, with police
confirming that one was "politically motivated arson". Image caption
There was a fire at a housing site for refugees in western Germany on Sunday night
The migrant crisis in maps and graphics A note on terminology:
The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who
have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group
includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely
to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs
and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic
migrants. Are you among those trying to reach Austria and Germany? Have you been involved in these events? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
No comments:
Post a Comment