Chancellor Angela Merkel called for European Union states to take a united stance on the bloc’s migration crisis and urged Germans to reject xenophobia, even as some members threatened to close their borders.
Austria and Hungary rounded up migrants and suspected people smugglers, while officials stopped a
Munich-bound train, stranding about 300 refugees on the two countries’ borders, the APA news service reported. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, political leaders said they’d defend their frontiers, adding to growing urgency among EU countries over how to handle the flow of people arriving from Africa and the Middle East.
...While Germany is preparing to welcome at least 800,000 migrants this year, other European countries have resisted, with some saying they aren’t prepared to accommodate Muslims.
“If Europe fails on this question of refugees, its close association with the rights of citizens threatens to fall apart,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin. “Europe as a whole must move on this. The current situation is not satisfactory.”
The right to asylum is a “foundation” of Germany’s constitution, and the government will form a “comprehensive” package to address the issue on Sept. 24, she said.