The first group of what are expected
to be some 10,000 migrants
has been greeted in Munich after an arduous
journey through Hungary and Austria.
German members of the public applauded and offered sweets as some 450 migrants arrived on a special train service.
The plight of the migrants has highlighted the EU's struggle to deal with a surge of asylum seekers
Earlier this week there were chaotic scenes in Budapest as Hungary blocked them from travelling onwards.
Many migrants refused to be taken to camps in Hungary to register for
asylum, insisting they wanted to travel on to Germany and Austria.
Crowds broke through security lines and began walking 175km (108 miles) to the border, many with small children.
Under
mounting pressure, Hungary opened its border with Austria, which
expects to have received some 10,000 people by the end of Saturday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany can cope with an influx of newcomers, without raising taxes or jeopardising its budget
And
Austria has said it will not limit the number of migrants crossing its
borders, with an interior ministry spokesperson telling the BBC on
Saturday that that the nation was dealing with an influx of people from
"crisis regions" who were "desperate".
However, there is little
sign of a co-ordinated EU response to the crisis, despite more than
350,000 migrants having crossed the EU's borders in 2015 alone.
Europe's
migrant crisis is "here to stay" and nations must act together to deal
with it effectively, the EU's foreign policy chief said after
"difficult" talks with foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
"In three
months time, it will be other member states under the focus, and in six
months, it could be again others," Federica Mogherini said.
Germany, backed by the European Commission, has been pushing for a
quota system for dividing the people reaching Europe between member
states. But this has been opposed by several eastern members.
On
Saturday, Hungary said that while it had temporarily relaxed
restrictions on the transit of asylum seekers, it was pressing ahead
with plans to tighten border controls and could send troops to its
southern frontier if parliament agreed.
Source: BBC
No comments:
Post a Comment