Germany closes border to halt rush of refugees
GERMANY’S open- door policy to refugees was in danger of unravelling yesterday as i t was f orced to reinstate border controls to stem the flood of migrants arriving in the country.
The historic move to impose border controls with Austria temporarily follows complaints that some cities have been overwhelmed by the arrival of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in recent days.
German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said: ‘At this moment Germany is temporarily introducing border controls again along [the EU’s] internal borders. The focus will be on the border to Austria at first. The aim is to limit the current inflows to Germany and to return to orderly procedures when people enter the country.’
Hundreds of German police officers are carrying out border checks. Trains have also been stopped from entering from Austria. Since both countries threw open their borders to migrants last weekend services
‘We have reached
the upper limit’
have been packed with families desperate to reach Chancellor Angela Merkel’s promised land.
The Czech Republic also said it would boost controls on its border with Austria.
Interior ministers from the EU’s 28 member states are to meet in Brussels today to discuss European Commission proposals to redistribute about 160,000 asylum-seekers across the bloc.
But there are deep divisions between member states and no sign of a solution. The Schengen agreement – allowing passport-free movement across much of the European continent – is under real threat, with Germany’s temporary opt-out being seen as the first step of a potentially wider collapse.
The suspension of free travel by the Germans was backed by the European Commission as being within the rules. However, Commission President Jean- Claude Juncker said that more solidarity i n managing the refugee crisis was needed to keep borders open between EU countries.
Germany – Europe’s richest nation – is buckling under the strain of accepting around 800,000 refugees this year. Its transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, said the country has reached its limit of capacity. He said effective measures are necessary now to stop the influx and, in a thinly veiled swipe at Greece for failing to stop migrants crossing from Turkey, hit out at the EU’s ‘complete failure to protect its external borders’.
Munich was said to be full after the arrival of more than 14,000 refugees this weekend alone.
Over the past two weeks 63,000 desperate men, women and children have arrived in the city and regional leaders said it could cope with no more. The stadium used for the 1972 Olympics may become a temporary refugee centre. ‘Given the numbers [from Saturday], it is very clear that we have reached the upper limit of our capacity,’ said a Munich police spokesman.
Mrs Merkel had insisted ‘we can do it’ when she welcomed refugees to the country a fortnight ago.
But the problems of feeding and housing tens of thousands of refugees in such a short space of time is already threatening to overwhelm the authorities.
Meanwhile, accusations are flying between European countries over who is to blame for the crisis.
In Hungary prime minister Viktor Orban has blamed Berlin. He said migrants are ‘not coming our way from war zones but from camps in Syria’s neighbours... So these people are not fleeing danger’.
Austria has criticised Hungary, likening the country’s policies to Nazi deportations during the Holocaust.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told German magazine Der Spiegel: ‘Sticking refugees in trains and sending them somewhere completely different to where they think they’re going reminds us of the darkest chapter of our continent’s history.’
So many migrants are heading for Dunkirk that even people smugglers are struggling to cope. At least 1,200 people are camped around the French port town following a security clampdown in Calais.
A charity worker told a local newspaper: ‘The situation in Dunkirk is explosive and highly dangerous. We cannot cope. Even the people smugglers are overwhelmed by the number of new arrivals.’