Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreeceMigrant Situation in Greece Is Unsustainable Says German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Migrant Situation in Greece Is Unsustainable Says German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel discusses Russia at German parliament building
Having already slammed several countries in the Balkans for shutting their borders on the thousands of refugees trying to head west, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday during a pre-election campaign in Rhineland-Palatinate that “Greece will not make it” if Europe fails to reach an agreement with Turkey on the migrant crisis.
Angela Merkel is still fuming over the decision of Balkan states to shut their door to migrants, but also against Austria, a country that usually marches to Berlin’s tune, for leading the campaign to have EU’s external borders sealed off.
“The problem isn’t solved,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel in an interview with Germany’s public broadcaster MDR yesterday about the situation in the Balkans. “We must always, as 28 nations, find a common solution,” and not make up rules individually, said the chancellor.
“Sure, it brings us less refugees… but it brings Greece more, and that’s not sustainable.”
The German Chancellor reiterated her position speaking at a pre-election campaign in Rhineland-Palatinate by saying that “This is not a solution to the migration problem. We have fewer people seeking asylum in Germany, but this is why we see images on our television screens every night of people stranded in Greece.”
Not surprisingly, Austria fired back at Merkel’s comments, accusing Berlin of “peddling false hope to refugees and not facing the problem head-on.”
“The Balkan route is closed and will be for some time,” said Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner to German newspaper “Die Welt.”
The Austrian minister said that Germany’s “open-door” refugee policy is responsible for the drama now unfolding at border camps like that in Idomeni, Greece, where some 14,000 migrants are living in deplorable conditions at the FYROM border.
“If you awaken false hope, then thousands of people will try to make their way,” to the continent’s richest countries, Mikl-Leitner told the paper.
Peter Altmaier, who acts as Chancellor Merkel’s refugee coordinator, said in a separate interview with “Die Welt” that the closing of borders is a mistake.
“We find border closures…unhelpful,” he said, and also criticized countries such as Croatia who want to send refugees back to Greece.
Mr. Altmaier told the paper “we can’t solve the problem by sending refugees back and forth like sacks of potatoes,” but expressed hope that the EU’s planned deal with Turkey can resolve the refugee crisis if it goes forward.
(Source: DW)

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts