EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-TUNISIA Germany’s Steinmeier calls for crack-down on people-smugglers, Tunisia says must stabilise region to ease refugee crisis

Record ID: 142244

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY-TUNISIA Germany’s Steinmeier calls for crack-down on people-smugglers, Tunisia says must stabilise region to ease refugee crisis
  • Date: 28th August 2015
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (AUGUST 28, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF FOREIGN MINISTRY GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER AND TUNISIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TAIEB BACCOUCHE ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ,FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, SAYING: "What we said a few weeks ago has now become even clearer: European countries must intensify their cooperation to fight people-smuggling rings. That has happened and the investigations that have begun in Austria show how difficult the matter is for the police, but we cannot allow the difficulties to stop us from doing what is necessary to apprehend the perpetrators." CAMERA NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ,FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, SAYING: "We need to spell out European solidarity when it comes to refugees, and that means that even if we face scepticism and reservations on the part of our eastern European neighbours, we need a fair distribution of refugees in Europe and we will remain in discussion with Poland about this." CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (French) TUNISIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, TAIEB BACCOUCHE, SAYING: "If Libya is not stabilised, Tunisia will remain threatened. Therefore it is in our interest, the interest of the Mediterranean region, in the south and the north, and indeed in the interest of the whole of Europe (to stabilise the region) - you know very well that if this region remains unstable, that means a stream of clandestine migration which destabilises the economy and all the countries of the region. Therefore it is important for all of us to stabilise the situation and find political solutions to the problems." SIGN NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS TUNISIAN FLAG VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE ENDING, STEINMEIER AND BACCOUCHE SHAKING HANDS
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7P9EJ0X4XGNUIA1NKO82DVV0U
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Germany's foreign minister on Friday (August 28) called on European countries to step up their efforts to combat people-smuggling after 71 people were found dead in an abandoned truck in Austria.
    "European countries must intensify their cooperation to fight people-smuggling rings. That has happened and the investigations that have begun in Austria show how difficult the matter is for the police, but we cannot allow the difficulties to stop us from doing what is necessary to apprehend the perpetrators," Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters at a news conference in Berlin.
    Austrian police said on Friday that 71 refugees including children, who had probably come from Syria, suffocated in the back of a refrigerated truck abandoned on an Austrian highway, and that a Hungarian-Bulgarian trafficking ring was probably responsible for the deaths.
    European Union leaders declared this week that the bloc has "failed" in the face of human agony on its frontiers, with the 28 member states as yet not reaching an agreement on introducing binding quotas for the distribution of refugees.
    Steinmeier said a clear show of solidarity and a fair sharing out of refugees was needed.
    "We need to spell out European solidarity when it comes to refugees, and that means that even if we face scepticism and reservations on the part of our eastern European neighbours, we need a fair distribution of refugees in Europe," he said.
    Tunisian Foreign Minister Taieb Baccouche said that the refugee crisis would continue if more was not done to stabilise the situation in countries like Libya, from where many refugees start their perilous journey across the Mediterranean.
    "You know very well that if this region remains unstable, that means a stream of clandestine migration which destabilises the economy and all the countries of the region. Therefore it is important for all of us to stabilise the situation and find political solutions to the problems," Baccouche said.
    The number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe has passed 300,000 this year, up from 219,000 in the whole of 2014, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday.
    More than 2,500 people have died making the crossing this year, not including about 200 who are feared to have drowned off Libya on Thursday. That compares with 3,500 who died or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2014.
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