French PM rejects permanent quota system for refugees

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: Reuters

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls rejected on Saturday the idea of a permanent quota system for distributing refugees across Europe, putting Paris at odds with Germany ahead of a summit to discuss the EU crisis over migration.

Speaking to reporters at a security conference in Munich, Valls said France would stick to its pledge to take on 30,000 of the 160,000 refugees European countries have agreed to divide among themselves, but would not accept additional numbers.

"We won't take any more," Valls said. He expressed admiration for Germany's readiness to take on more refugees, but added: "France never said 'come to France'."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to push European partners to accept so-called "contingents" of refugees at a meeting on Thursday in Brussels, shortly before European Union leaders come together for their summit.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-europe-migrants-idUKKCN0VM0NG

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Merkel isolated as EU partners slam door on refugees

Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Abandoned by France, defied by eastern Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel cuts a lonely figure in her struggle for EU "solidarity" on the refugee crisis ahead of a Brussels summit.

Merkel is battling for a deal that will see refugees more evenly spread around the European Union after Germany welcomed 1.1 million asylum seekers last year.

But instead, eastern European countries are planning new razor wire fences, and even Paris -- traditionally Berlin's closest EU ally -- has shown little enthusiasm for Merkel's welcome policy.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Saturday that the mood in France was "not favourable" to Merkel's call for a permanent quota system.

http://news.yahoo.com/merkel-isolated-eu-partners-slam-door-refugees-095551766.html

[DFW]

1. No surprise there

If it had been Berlin where a bunch of local Arabs had slaughtered over a hundred people with assault weapons, Merkel would have been forced to change her tune as well, or else be faced with such a resurgence of the dormant German radical right that she would have had to seek political asylum in Switzerland.

There have been attempts, too, but all have either failed or been foiled so far. At the first failure to thwart an attack where numerous Germans get slaughtered, this place will become a lot less pleasant overnight. So far the Germans are jittery, but not panicking.

When I got back here last month after my operation in Dallas, I got stopped at German customs for the first time in I don't know how long. A customs agent stopped me at baggage claim and asked, in English, what was the reason for my visit to Germany. I replied, in English that I had a very good reason, and whipped out my residency card. He looked at it, and said, still in English, but if I had residency, why couldn't I speak German? I replied, this time in German, that I did, too, speak German. He asked why I didn't say so. I reminded him that he was the one who started speaking English, not me, and that it wasn't my place to tell a German official what language he should be using. He asked me what I was bringing with me, went through the whole routine, but then said, OK, get lost. At least he was smiling. I think he was blown away that a "stupid American" could actually speak his language fluently.

[MariaThinks]

2. fix the radical muslim problem and magically the number of refugees will go down