EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-STEINMEIER FM Steinmeier calls on EU countries to follow Germany's example on refugees

Record ID: 141132

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-STEINMEIER FM Steinmeier calls on EU countries to follow Germany's example on refugees
  • Date: 14th September 2015
  • Summary: BRANDENBURG AN DER HAVEL, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 14, 2015) (REUTERS) STUDENTS OUTSIDE DOMGYNASIUM SCHOOL IN BRANDENBURG GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER ARRIVING TO TALK TO STUDENTS STUDENTS VARIOUS OF STEINMEIER SITTING WRITING ON BOARD READING (German): "LIVING WELL IN GERMANY - WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO US" STEINMEIER LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, SAYING: "I am happy that we are one of the few countries in Europe where refugees are seen as welcome. If one looks around - and I do not only mean eastern European countries, with whom I was in discussion on Friday in Prague - if we think back to the awful pictures we have seen from Hungary or refugees travelling through the West Balkans - Serbia, Macedonia... in comparison to that I think the German people have shown not only willingness to take in refugees, but also a great willingness to help care for and provide for them." STUDENTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, SAYING: "We must recognise that at the moment there is no willingness for real European cooperation. We stand by our responsibility, and will continue to do so, but we must also make sure that we keep our own shop in order. Therefore train traffic has not been suspended, but it was disrupted for 12 hours, and the borders have not been closed, but rather we have something that people of your young age have never known - border officers at the crossing points who check who is coming in. But that does not mean the borders are completely closed." STUDENTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, SAYING: "Germany clearly cannot manage this burden alone. That is why we have been saying for the whole summer to the Italians, the French, the British and all the others: we must introduce a real responsibility-sharing. If everybody takes on their fair share, then the burden will be manageable for everybody." STUDENTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, SAYING: "Therefore part of the European solution is registering them [migrants] in the country where they arrive: who are they, where are they from, how many relatives they have etc. This process is completely chaotic at the moment, and intentionally so, because Greece and Hungary are simply refusing to register people as they fear they will be responsible for the people they register. So they think if they do not register them they will not be responsible for them." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS LISTENING STEINMEIER GETTING UP TO LEAVE
  • Embargoed: 29th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA48JCFD3SE8HF8RQQQWZI3IKRH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday (September 14) called on other European countries to follow Germany's example and take in their fair share of refugees.
    "I am happy that we are one of the few countries in Europe where refugees are seen as welcome," Steinmeier said to students at a school he was visiting in Brandenburg.
    "[I]f we think back to the awful pictures we have seen from Hungary or refugees travelling through the West Balkans - Serbia, Macedonia... in comparison to that I think the German people have shown not only willingness to take in refugees, but also a great willingness to help care for and provide for them," he added.
    The foreign minister criticised the lack of European cooperation in handling Europe's worst refugee crisis since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
    "We must recognise that at the moment there is no willingness for real European cooperation. We stand by our responsibility, and will continue to do so, but we must also make sure that we keep our own shop in order," Steinmeier said, referring to the temporary measure of border checks that Berlin announced on Sunday (September 13), to be taken first on the southern frontier with Austria, where migrant arrivals have soared since Chancellor Angela Merkel effectively opened German borders to refugees a week ago.
    Steinmeier reiterated Germany's call for "a real responsibility-sharing", saying that in particular the process of registering migrants needed to be coordinated on a European level.
    "This process is completely chaotic at the moment, and intentionally so, because Greece and Hungary are simply refusing to register people as they fear they will be responsible for the people they register," Steinmeier said.
    Hungary on Monday was transferring hundreds of newly-arrived migrants and refugees straight to the border with Austria, while in Brussels European Union interior ministers were attending an emergency meeting on the refugee crisis.
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