Climbing aboard fast, efficient trains and heading toward clean, safe beds, migrants by the thousands headed into Germany on Saturday, with the southern city of Munich expected to see 10,000 in one day alone. Chancellor Angela Merkel, fending off criticism from conservative critics, insisted that agreeing to take in those seeking asylum was “the right thing to do.”
While Merkel’s deputy warned that the country is “reaching limits,” European nations traded jibes over how to deal with the influx. Hungary’s hard-line Prime Minister proposed that the European Union step up aid to Syria’s neighbours to stem the flow of refugees from camps there, and declared there is no “right to a better life.”
Aydan Ozoguz, a senior German Government official responsible for immigrant issues, said “the pace at which people are fleeing from the region is breathtaking.”
Still, she was cautious about a statement on Friday by her country’s Foreign Minister that 40,000 migrants were expected in Germany over the weekend. “We’ll have to see whether this figure really comes true,” she said.
Some 450,000 migrants have arrived in Germany this year. The country is expecting at least 800,000 in 2015 — by far the most in the 28-nation EU. AP