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Migrant crisis Is German, Not European problem

Migrant crisis Is German, Not European problem
Migrant crisis Is German, Not European problem

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban insisted Thursday the migrant crisis was a German problem, not a European one as he defended his government’s handling of thousands of refugees flooding into his country.

“The problem is not a European problem, the problem is a German problem,” Orban told a press conference with European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Brussels, World Bulletin reported.

“Nobody wants to stay in Hungary, neither in Slovakia, nor Poland, nor Estonia. All want to go to Germany. Our job is just to register them.”

Orban’s comments came as hundreds of refugees and migrants stormed a train at Budapest’s reopened main international railroad station, which has become a flashpoint for people trying to head to western Europe via Hungary.

“We have clear-cut regulations at the European level. German Chancellor (Angela Merkel) ... said yesterday that nobody could leave Hungary without being registered,” he added.

“If the German chancellor insists that we register them, we will; it is a must.”

Orban was due to hold talks with European Commission chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, and with EU President Donald Tusk, who warned earlier Thursday that divisions between EU member states threatened to scupper efforts to find a common response.

Schulz also warned that the 28 member states had to act as one.

“The European idea is of solidarity; what we see at the moment is egoism and to my mind, this is a real threat to the EU,” he said.

  Migrants Scuffle With Hungary Police

Migrants forced from a train in Hungary scuffled with helmeted riot police and some clung to rail tracks on Thursday, as politicians across Europe struggled to respond to public opinion appalled by images of a drowned three-year-old boy.

France and Germany said European countries must be required to accept their shares of refugees, proposing what would potentially be the biggest change to the continent’s asylum rules since World War Two, Reuters reported.

Accusing some European countries of failing to “assume their moral burdens”, French President Francois Hollande said he had agreed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on “a permanent and obligatory mechanism” to allocate refugees across the bloc.

“I believe that today what exists is no longer enough,” he said. “So we will need to go further.”

Merkel said Germany was prepared to accept more refugees per capita than its neighbors, but others must do their part with “quotas and rules that are fair and take into account what is possible in each country”.

She also acknowledged that laws requiring refugees to apply for asylum in the first EU country where they arrive were “not working any more”. Germany has caused confusion among its neighbors by announcing it will accept applications from Syrians regardless of where they enter the EU.

  Dead Toddler’s Image

Politicians across the continent acknowledged the impact on Thursday of images of a 3-year-old boy in a red T-shirt and tiny sneakers face down in the surf of a Turkish beach, which gave a haunting human face to the tragedy of thousands dead at sea.

“He had a name: Aylan Kurdi. Urgent action required - A Europe-wide mobilization is urgent,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Twitter.

The boy’s five-year-old brother Galip and 35-year-old mother Rehan were also among 12 people who died when two boats carrying 23 capsized while trying to reach a Greek island.

His father Abdullah Kurdi, who was rescued barely conscious, collapsed in tears after emerging from a morgue where the bodies were held.

“The things that happened to us here, in the country where we took refuge to escape war in our homeland, we want the whole world to see this,” Abdullah told reporters.

“We want the world’s attention on us, so that they can prevent the same from happening to others. Let this be the last,” he said.

 

Financialtribune.com