BERLIN — Germany agreed on Tuesday to soak up greater than 1,500 refugees now dwelling in Greece, in a problem to different rich European international locations which were reluctant to assist Greece resettle hundreds of individuals left homeless after blazes last week destroyed Europe’s largest refugee camp.
The choice adopted intense debate inside Chancellor Angela Merkel’s authorities, with some officers arguing that Berlin ought to wait to take motion till there’s a joint European Union response to the disaster in Greece. They feared {that a} unilateral transfer by Germany, whereas exhibiting solidarity with Greece, may create the politically unpopular impression that the nation had reopened its borders, because it did in 2015, when it accepted a couple of million individuals from the Center East, Africa and Asia.
The German authorities will permit 1,553 individuals from 408 households who’ve already been acknowledged as refugees by Greece to settle in Germany, Steffen Seibert, Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, stated on Tuesday. Germany had already agreed to soak up round 1,200 different asylum seekers who’ve been housed in Greece — about 200 unaccompanied minors, and 243 kids requiring medical remedy, together with their households.
“In complete, Germany will soak up about 2,750 individuals from the Greek islands,” Mr. Seibert stated in an announcement, after the chancellor and her ministers reached settlement on the transfer.
Ms. Merkel’s willingness to take the political danger speaks to her confidence as she heads into what she has repeatedly stated will likely be her ultimate yr in workplace, and at a time when her reputation has surged over what’s extensively seen as her efficient dealing with of the coronavirus pandemic.
Germany’s transfer may enhance stress on different rich members of the European Union to behave, and seemed to be an implicit rebuke over their failure to ease the pressure on Greece, a member of the bloc.
The migrants who’ve been packed into overcrowded camps on Greek islands come from dozens of nations, however the largest quantity are from Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has dramatically hardened Greek policy towards undocumented migrants, welcomed the transfer, however warned that it ought to “by no means be seen as rewarding those that try and enter the nation illegally,” in keeping with a member of presidency who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of the assertion was not formally issued by the prime minster’s workplace.
“Slightly,” the assertion stated, “it brings again to the European debate the difficulty of the relocation of refugees and of offering aid for international locations of first entry forward of the proposals of the European Fee for a standard settlement for migration and asylum to be offered subsequent week.”
Mr. Seibert stated the German authorities remained “dedicated to a extra far-reaching European resolution with different welcoming member states.” Ought to an settlement be reached, he stated, Germany “would additionally take part to an applicable extent in accordance with the dimensions of our nation.”
Below an E.U. settlement, Greece retains migrants in refugee camps till their functions for asylum are processed — it may take greater than a yr — moderately than allow them to cross by to the wealthier northern international locations that almost all of them hope to succeed in.
Final week, blazes destroyed the biggest of these camps, Moria, on the island of Lesbos, leaving about 12,000 individuals, together with 4,000 kids, stranded with out shelter or sanitation.
Germany was certainly one of 10 E.U. international locations that agreed to soak up unaccompanied minors from the camp within the fast aftermath of the fires, however the center-left Social Democrats, who share energy with Ms. Merkel’s conservatives together with the opposition Greens and the Left, rebuked the federal government for failing to take the lead.
Horst Seehofer, the German inside minister who in 2017 compelled the chancellor to set a limit on the variety of migrants allowed to enter the nation at a time when the anti-immigrant, far-right Various for Germany social gathering was having fun with a surge in reputation, stated that Berlin was nonetheless searching for help from inside Europe.
“At this hour, there may be not a single different E.U. nation that’s becoming a member of” Germany in its gesture, Mr. Seehofer advised the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday. Describing the state of affairs in Greece as untenable, he stated, “We can not wait ceaselessly.”
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, visited Lesbos on Tuesday in what he referred to as an expression of solidarity with the migrants in addition to the native Greeks and humanitarian employees who’ve been supporting them. He referred to as on all of the bloc’s members to be extra dedicated to serving to to unravel the issue.
“All European international locations should mobilize their help for international locations akin to Greece which can be on the entrance traces of the migration disaster,” Mr. Michel stated. “There is no such thing as a miracle resolution relating to migration. We’d like coherent measures primarily based on the values that deliver us collectively.”
Niki Kitsantonis contributed reporting from Athens.
