Sunday, September 13, 2015

Islamic invasion of Europe update (September 13, 2015)


German minister says Berlin reaching its limits in refugee crisis
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in a newspaper interview on Sunday that Germany was now reaching its limit as thousands of refugees continue to stream across its borders every day.

"It's true: The European lack of action in the refugee crisis is now pushing even Germany to the limit of its ability," he said in an interview published on the Der Tagesspiegel's website.

The German government is expecting 800,000 new arrivals this year. On Saturday around 13,000 arrived in Munich alone.

Germany introduces 'temporary' controls along Austrian border
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Sunday that Germany had temporarily introduced controls along its border with Austria in an attempt to reduce the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country.

"At this moment Germany is temporarily introducing border controls again along (the EU's) internal borders. The focus will be on the border to Austria at first," he said.

"The aim of these measures is to limit the current inflows to Germany and to return to orderly procedures when people enter the country," he said, adding that this was also necessary for security reasons.

Thousands more migrants on their way into Austria
Austrian authorities said they were expecting another wave of migrants and refugees coming over the border from Hungary on Sunday, after a brief lull in arrivals gave them a chance to re-stock reception centers.

Austria struggled last week to cope with thousands of people entering its territory, almost all of them on their way to Germany. The train link to Hungary has been closed since Thursday in a bid to stem the flow.

Only 50 people crossed the border early on Sunday morning, but Hungarian authorities had said more were on their way and numbers could climb to 500 an hour, a spokesman for the Austrian police said.

Based on recent experience, the Austrian authorities were expecting 6,000-8,000 new arrivals through the day, the spokesman added.

Czech PM Sobotka says impossible to accept migrant quotas
PRAGUE - The Czech Republic cannot retreat from its stance rejecting mandatory quotas for European Union states to accept migrants from other countries, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Sunday.

"I think it is impossible to retreat (on quotas)... our position is firm," Sobotka said on public television talkshow.

Poland sets conditions for accepting more migrants
Poland may accept more migrants if the European Union secures its external borders, separates those who need help from economic migrants, and allows Warsaw a say in screening them from the point of security, a deputy foreign minister said.

Rafal Trzaskowski, secretary of state for European affairs, said Poland was ready to show more solidarity as the migrant crisis has turned into a humanitarian catastrophe.

"If certain conditions are met, we are willing to show more solidarity than so far," he was quoted as saying by tvn24.pl website. "What are the conditions?"

"We have to firmly secure EU's external borders, we have to clearly distinguish economic migrants, accepting whom we cannot afford, from refugees that one needs to help, because they are fleeing death or persecution," he said.

Majority of French people favor sending troops to Syria to fight ISIS
PARIS- A majority of French people are in favor of sending troops to fight Islamic State militants in Syria, a prospect that President Francois Hollande has flatly ruled out, a poll released on Sunday showed.

Some 56 percent of those questioned were in favor of a ground intervention as part of an international coalition, according to an Ifop poll for Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

France began reconnaissance missions over Syria last week in preparation for a decision on whether to launch air strikes against Islamic State militants.