Merkel Rejects Muslim Migrant Ban, Urges Fair Distribution
Merkel said she was hopeful that European Union members would reach an agreement on outstanding questions arising from the migrant crisis, one of which is how to fairly distribute asylum-seekers among all the bloc’s 28 member states.
She told German public broadcaster ARD that "everybody has to do their bit” and didn’t rule out the possibility of letting some countries take in fewer migrants if they contribute more financially instead.
But she reiterated her stance that blocking refugees based on their religion was misguided.
"What I continue to think is wrong is that some say, ‘We generally don’t want Muslims in our country, regardless of whether there’s a humanitarian need or not,’” she said. "We’re going to have to keep discussing that.”
Her comments come almost a year after Merkel’s decision to allow hundreds of thousands of migrants stuck in other European countries to come to Germany.
That move prompted a further wave of migration through the Balkans that culminated in the daily arrival of more than 10,000 asylum-seekers at German borders at one point.
Officials have spoken of more than a million arrivals in 2015, but Germany’s top migration official said the actual figure was likely lower once duplicate registrations and people who traveled on to other countries are excluded.
The influx prompted countries such as Hungary to sharply criticize Merkel, and even accuse her of threatening Europe’s stability.
In Germany, anti-migrant feeling has increased too. A nationalist party to the right of Merkel’s Christian Democrats has received a surge in support, and the chancellor has seen her popularity ratings fall.
Source: First Post
