BERLIN, Sept 15, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Germany plans to take in 1,500 migrants
currently taking shelter on Greek islands, government sources told AFP, in
addition to around 150 unaccompanied minors from the burnt-out Moria camp.
Under a plan agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Interior Minister
Horst Seehofer, Berlin will take in migrants who have already secured refugee
status, giving priority to families with children, the sources said.
Merkel’s right-left coalition government is in talks over the plan, with
her junior partner Social Democrats expecting a deal by Wednesday.
After a fire laid waste to Greece’s biggest refugee camp Moria last week,
pressure has grown on Merkel’s government to offer refuge to the 11,500 left
homeless by the disaster. While Berlin has voiced readiness to open its doors
to more than the 150 minors, German media reported however that Athens
opposed Germany taking in more asylum seekers from Moria.
Doing so may incite more migrants to set fire to their shelter in Greece
in the hopes they would then be offered refuge by Europe’s biggest economy,
according to Bild daily.