BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany on Tuesday urged the European Union to consider putting financial pressure on states that are reluctant to take in their share of asylum seekers, as the influx of refugees showed little sign of abating despite new border controls.
In a veiled threat to eastern European member states that have resisted EU plans to share out refugees, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said these were the same countries that received development funding from the bloc.
Facing opposition from ex-Communist states led by Hungary and Slovakia, EU ministers failed on Monday to break a deadlock over sharing responsibility for accepting some of the hundreds of thousands who have sought asylum in Europe.
De Maiziere said the EU was still some way from agreeing long-term quotas for refugees.
“So I think we must talk about ways of exerting pressure,” he told ZDF television, adding that some of the countries that opposed quotas were the beneficiaries of EU structural funds.
De Maiziere stuck to his forecast that 800,000 refugees would arrive in Germany this year, despite some politicians saying there could be as many as 1 million new arrivals.
After opening its doors to refugees from Syria’s civil war, Germany at the weekend temporarily reimposed border controls, causing other countries along the refugees’ march northwards through Europe to do the same and casting doubt on the EU’s Schengen system of passport-free travel within the bloc.
Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Germany’s ability to take in refugees would end at some point and Europe had “embarrassed itself” by failing to agree on how to handle the crisis.
“I think there is no alternative to setting up hotspots in Greece, Hungary and Italy where asylum processes can be decided and then distribution can be worked out,” he said
Police said more than 4,500 asylum seekers reached Germany by train on Monday despite new controls at the border with Austria. They brought the number of asylum seekers who have entered Germany by train this month to nearly 92,000.
ARRIVALS SET TO RISE
Arrivals in Germany seemed set to rise after 22,000 reached neighboring Austria since Monday. Officials there said 350 refugees had arrived in the city of Salzburg within an hour and a train was due to take more across the border to Munich.
Women and small children were being allowed to board the train. Some young men appeared angry at the decision.
“For now, the situation is under control, but that can change within minutes,” said Johannes Greifeneder, spokesman for the city of Salzburg.
German government spokesmen have said that temporary border controls do not mean the borders are closed, but will allow refugees to be processed in a more orderly fashion.
The border measures were however greeted with concern by German industry. The VDMA engineering federation feared there could be “negative effects on the EU internal market and the European Union overall”.
The refugee crisis has boosted support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing party that backs a tough line on immigration, to its highest level in nearly four months, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday.
The INSA poll for German daily Bild showed support for the AfD at 5.5 percent, its highest level since late May.
Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc slipped 1.5 points to 40 percent, still the strongest party by far, but its lowest reading since late June.
“The refugee crisis is pulling the conservatives down and pushing the AfD over the 5 percent threshold,” INSA head Hermann Binkert told Bild.
(Additional reporting by Madeleine Chambers, Gernot Heller, Kirsti Knolle and Noah Barkin; editing by Anna Willard)