EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-BAVARIA Germany expects over 1 million refugees over 12 month period, says Merkel ally

Record ID: 139897

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-BAVARIA Germany expects over 1 million refugees over 12 month period, says Merkel ally
  • Date: 14th September 2015
  • Summary: MUNICH, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 14, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF HANS SEIDEL INSTITUTE BAVARIAN STATE PREMIER HORST SEEHOFER ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE LOGO OF CHRISTIAN SOCIAL UNION, BAVARIAN SISTER PARTY TO MERKEL'S CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS SEEHOFER SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (German) BAVARIAN STATE PREMIER, HORST SEEHOFER, SAYING: "Looking at a 12 month period rather than a calendar year, I strongly believe that [German Vice Chancellor] Sigmar Gabriel is right: from August this year until August next year the number is more likely to be over a million than under." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) BAVARIAN STATE PREMIER, HORST SEEHOFER, SAYING: "Border checks are in no way a comprehensive solution for the problems. Much more must be done, as we have already said. Sorting out border checks is one aspect, but nobody should believe that it is enough to tick off the entire issue. Far from it." JOURNALISTS NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 29th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA29DUO57MH0IGEPER1VK652GSU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Bavarian State Premier Horst Seehofer said on Monday (September 14) that Germany expected to receive more than one million refugees over the 12 month period beginning in August 2015.
    "Looking at a 12 month period rather than a calendar year, I strongly believe that [German Vice Chancellor] Sigmar Gabriel is right: from August this year until August next year the number is more likely to be over a million than under," Seehofer, who is from the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said.
    Seehofer added that newly reintroduced border controls along Germany's border with Austria were not enough to help Germany deal with an influx of refugees as Europe struggles in the face of its worst refugee crisis since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
    "Border checks are in no way a comprehensive solution for the problems. Much more must be done, as we have already said. Sorting out border checks is one aspect, but nobody should believe that it is enough to tick off the entire issue. Far from it," Seehofer said.
    Germany's surprise decision to restore border controls on Sunday (September 13) had a swift domino effect, forcing neighbours to shut their own frontiers as thousands of refugees pressed north and west across the continent.
    Hundreds of thousands of people, including refugees from war in the Middle East, have been arriving on the bloc's southern and eastern edges and heading to richer and more welcoming countries further north and west to seek asylum.
    European interior ministers were holding crisis talks on Monday, with Germany, France and the bloc's executive Commission trying to overcome opposition from eastern members to a plan to relocate 160,000 refugees from Italy, Hungary and Greece.
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