The latest news reports as states across Europe try to cope with the arrival of thousands of migrants and refugees, the Associated Press reported on Monday, September 7th. All times local (CET):
11:20 a.m.
French President Francois Hollande says his country will welcome 24,000 refugees. In a speech ahead of a wide-ranging press conference, the Socialist says taking in those fleeing war is a duty that France is ready to shoulder.
He said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had agreed upon a mechanism to distribute refugees across Europe.
11 a.m.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin on Monday that “we have a moving, in some parts breathtaking, weekend behind us.”
Merkel said Germany will ensure that those who need protection receive it, but that those who stand no chance of getting asylum will have to return to their homes swiftly.
She also stressed that Europe’s biggest economy isn’t willing to shoulder the whole refugee burden alone, saying that “Germany is a country willing to take people in, but refugees can be received in all countries of the European Union in such a way that they can find refuge from civil war and from persecution.”
10:50 a.m.
Greece says it has requested emergency European Union assistance to deal with the massive influx of refugees and migrants who reach its eastern islands daily on frail boats from nearby Turkey.
More than 230,000 people have arrived so far, at a rapidly increasing pace, and have overwhelmed authorities in the financially struggling country that has become Europe’s main gateway for migrants.
The Interior Ministry said Monday it has applied for activation of a European mechanism for civil protection assistance, which it said would be of “crucial importance” in improving migrants’ reception facilities — which are, at best, rudimentary.
A ministry statement said Greece has provided detailed information on what it needs in terms of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, equipment for reception centers, clothing and personnel.
10:20 a.m.
Hungary’s prime minister has mocked the European Union’s efforts to distribute migrants with a quota system and is casting Hungary as the “black sheep” standing up against EU leaders in contrast with the other countries in the “flock.”
Viktor Orban told a meeting of Hungarian diplomats on Monday that the EU migrant quota, which would distribute migrants among the bloc’s 28 countries, makes no sense in a system where the free movement of people would make it impossible to enforce.
Orban said “How is this going to work? Has anyone thought this through?”
Orban also said that migrants who had kept going after reaching safe countries like Turkey or Macedonia “want to live a German life. It has nothing to do with security.”
10:15 a.m.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to announce plans to accept more than 10,000 Syrian refugees in a change of heart announced last week after dramatic photos showed the plight of refugees trying to enter Europe.
Cameron plans to outline his proposal when Parliament reconvenes after its summer recess. His government has indicated that the international aid budget will be used to help Syrians get started in Britain.