Europe feeling the strain of migrants
The German Government will give its 16 regional states around 4 billion (NZ$7b) next year to help them cope with a record influx of refugees that is straining their budgets and resources.
Chancellor Angela Merkel made the announcement after meeting state premiers to discuss ways of helping the states, which are struggling to look after 800,000 asylum seekers expected this year alone.
Merkel said the government would pay the states 670 (NZ$1180) each month for every asylum seeker they took in.
Sources from her SPD coalition partner indicated that the package could be worth around 4b once extra payments for providing social housing and looking after unaccompanied young refugees were taken into account.
The government had previously pledged to offer the states 3b (NZ$5.3b) for next year to help cover the additional costs of housing and caring for the refugees and asylum seekers.
German public opinion has been divided on the rising numbers of new arrivals, with some warmly welcoming people fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa but others concerned about how easily they can be integrated.
Merkel told the German parliament that the European Union needed the support of the United States, Russia and countries in the Middle East to help tackle the underlying causes of the refugee crisis.
Merkel has been criticised by some eastern EU neighbours for what they see as actions that have fuelled the influx of people trying to reach Germany.
As well as feeding and housing the newcomers, Germany is also weighing their impact on Europe’s largest economy.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he still aimed to maintain a balanced budget next
We cannot welcome to Europe all those who flee Syria’s dictatorship. Manuel Valls French Prime Minister
year. Schaeuble said looking after the refugees took priority over everything else but it was still his intention to try to stick to his target.
The sudden arrival of so many refugees could push up unemployment next year, the German labour office research institute IAB said.
France will not welcome more refugees than the 30,000 it has pledged to host within the next two years as part of a broader European Union plan, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.
‘‘It won’t be more,’’ Valls told France 2 television. ‘‘We cannot welcome to Europe all those who flee Syria’s dictatorship.’’
The 28-country EU plans to take a total of 160,000 refugees.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned that Europe can expect a record one million people to request asylum this year as refugees flee war in Syria and Iraq, and that almost half of them are likely to qualify.