…meanwhile, Germany wants fuel tax to pay for refugee crisis

GERMANY’S finance minister has called for a new EU-wide tax on petrol to pay for the refugee crisis.

Wolfgang Schaeuble proposed the tax on petrol sales across Europe to meet the costs of securing the Schengen area’s external borders against a further influx of migrants.

“Why shouldn’t we deal with this at a European level, if the task is so urgent?” asked Mr Schaeuble. “We need to secure the Schengen external borders now. We cannot fail to address this problem because of a lack of funds.”

It was not clear whether Britain would be affected by the proposal, as it is not a member of the border-free Schengen area.

Even if it cannot secure EU-wide agreement, Germany was prepared to implement a tax with a “coalition of the willing”, Mr Schaeuble told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. If the EU cannot reach agreement on securing its external borders, Germany

may be forced to close its own, the influential finance minister warned. Such a move could prove fatal to the Schengen Agreement.

It would also leave countries such as Greece to deal with the huge numbers of arriving asylum-seekers without German help, Mr Schäuble warned.

Pressure is growing on Angela Merkel’s government in the wake of the New Year sex attacks in Cologne.

A second local authority has imposed restrictions on asylum-seekers using a public swimming pool, it has emerged.

The town of Hermeskeil has not gone as far as Bornheim, near Cologne, which imposed a ban on asylum seekers in pools after a series of alleged incidents of sexual harassment.

Instead it is insisting asylum seekers obtain a special pass to prove they understand pool etiquette. To get it, they must undergo a short interview.

The restrictions are an indication of how attitudes to refugees are hardening in Germany. After the Cologne attacks, there have been reports of asylum seekers being turned away by bouncers in other cities.

An opinion poll this week found for the first time most Germans believe the country cannot cope with the refugee numbers. Sixty per cent now believe they are unmanageable, up from just 46 per cent before the Cologne attacks, according to the ZDF television poll.

Mrs Merkel has pledged to cut the number of refugees in the country “noticeably”, but is struggling to deliver results. Her government is demanding Morocco and Algeria take back more of their citizens whose asylum claims have been rejected.