EU plan would accept 160,000 refugees

Top US diplomat says country now 'committed to increasing the number' of Syrians it takes in

The EU unveiled plans on Wednesday to take 160,000 refugees from overstretched border states, as the United States said it will accept more Syrians to ease the pressure from the worst migration crisis since World War II.

As fresh unrest in Hungary underscored the scale of the problem, Germany pushed Europe to go further and agree to long-term binding quotas with no limits on actual numbers to deal with a surge of asylum-seekers.

With Greece, Hungary and Italy struggling to cope, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker urged the continent to look to its history, ignore populist parties and take decisive action.

"Now is not the time to take fright, it is time for bold, determined action for the European Union," Juncker said.

In response to appeals for help from an increasingly strained Europe, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was studying how it can resettle more refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria.

"We are committed to increasing the number that we will take," Kerry said. "And we are looking hard at the number that we can specifically manage with respect to the crisis in Syria and Europe."

In Germany, Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told parliament on Thursday that about 450,000 refugees have arrived in Germany so far this year, including 37,000 in the first eight days of September.

"Up to the day before yesterday, Germany registered 450,000 refugees, including 105,000 in August, and 37,000 in the first eight days of September. There may be more than 100,000 in September," he said.

"Honestly speaking, this shows that the distribution of 160,000 refugees across Europe is a first step, if one wants to be polite," said Gabriel, referring to the European Commission's proposal for EU member states to share out the new arrivals.

"Or you could call it a drop in the ocean," he added.

Meanwhile, a record 5,000 migrants arrived at Serbia's border with Hungary over a 24-hour period, a television report said on Thursday.

About 3,000 of them have already entered Hungary, the state RTS television said. Most of the migrants are moving through Hungary on their way to Germany and other northern countries.

Within Europe, mandatory quotas have faced stiff opposition, especially from eastern EU states such as Hungary, which have seen a huge surge in migrants trying to get to Germany.

In Denmark, Danish police said on Thursday that they will no longer try to stop migrants and refugees from transiting through the country to get to Sweden and other Nordic countries.

The Danish decision comes amid a surge of migrants and refugees arriving from Germany who are refusing to apply for asylum in Denmark, saying they want to go Sweden, Finland or Norway instead.

Danish authorities initially insisted they must register in Denmark, but they reversed course in a decision late on Wednesday after standoffs with hundreds of migrants who demanded the right to cross the country.

"We can't detain foreigners who do not want to seek asylum" in Denmark, police chief Jens Henrik Hoejbjerg said on Thursday. "Therefore, there is no other option than to let them go, and we cannot prevent them from traveling wherever they want."

AFP - AP

(China Daily 09/11/2015 page11)