Germanys chancellor Angela Merkel has asked other countries in Europe to show solidarity in order to contain the continuous influx of refugees from Syria.
After thanking German federal agencies and volunteers for their effort over the weekend, where some 20,000 refugees arrived at Munich central station, Merkel demanded a Europe-wide solution to the distribution of refugees.
She said that while Germany was willing to take in more refugees they could find shelter in every country of the European Union in a way which guarantees them protection from persecution and civil war.
German vice-vhancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel added Germany, Austria and Sweden alone could not take in all refugees. He warned that Germany had an interest in keeping European borders open but if only three countries take the bulk of refugees the debate on this will change very quickly.
A new set of national quotas has been drawn up by the EU executive under which Germany will take more than 40,000 refugees and France 30,000 out of a total of 160,000 asylum-seekers to be relocated from Italy, Greece and Hungary, an EU source said.
