Migrant crisis: Influx will change Germany, says Merkel

Migrants walk to get a bus after their arrival at the train station in Dortmund, western Germany

Migrants walk to get a bus after their arrival at the train station in Dortmund, western Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the “breathtaking” flow of migrants into Germany will “occupy and change” the country in the coming years.

She said Germany would speed up asylum procedures and build extra housing, but called on other EU states to help.

French President Francois Hollande said quotas for EU countries to relocate 120,000 migrants were being planned and that France would take 24,000.

Meanwhile, the flow of migrants across Europe shows no sign of easing.

On Monday, large numbers of people were reported to be streaming into Hungary across its southern border with Serbia.

Migrants sit in the road in front of the police line as photographers mingle with them.

An empty coach waits to pick them up and start the journey to Budapest. There are about 400 people here.

A voice on a loudspeaker tells the migrants in English that buses will come soon.

They are not convinced. They continue their sit-down protest but police warn them that buses can’t get through if they don’t move.

Other exhausted families trudge along the railway line, heading to the border camp.

Thousands of migrants who had arrived in Hungary made their way through Austria to Germany over the weekend. Those arriving at Munich station were cheered by locals.

Mrs Merkel thanked volunteers who had helped and welcomed those arriving, saying they had “painted a picture of Germany which can make us proud of our country”.

However, she said that although Germany was “a country willing to take people in”, it was “time for the European Union to pull its weight”.

Germany – which expects 800,000 asylum requests this year – could face costs of €10bn (£7.3bn) next year because of the influx, she added. About 18,000 people arrived in Germany over the weekend.

New quotas drawn up by the European Commission are set to be unveiled on Wednesday.

Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Monday (in Spanish) that a total of 160,000 migrants would be resettled, including 66,000 who have arrived in Greece, 54,000 in Hungary and 40,000 in Italy.

BBC

 

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