Migrant crisis: Germany willing to shell out €6B for refugees
Germany is willing to shell out €6 billion ($6.7 billion) to deal with the existing migrant crisis this year, the ruling coalition announced.
Based on the coalition's announcement, Germany will distribute €6 billion ($3.35 billion) that the state and local governments will use to house the 800,000 migrants that Germany is expecting this year. The central government is also planning to release another €6 billion ($3.35 billion) to pay for the benefits and other expenses of the newcomers, according to The Guardian.
Aside from that, other leaders agreed to implement other actions to help deal with the migrant crisis. Among these measures are the construction of houses and expediting asylum procedures, NBC News reports.
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Last month alone, Germany registered over 100,000 migrants from the Middle East. Among all the EU nations, Germany is the one expected to welcome the most number of refugees. But German chancellor Angela Merkel urged the rest of the EU members to also help provide asylum for the refugees.
"Germany is a country willing to take people in, but refugees can be received in all countries of the European Union in such a way that they can find refuge from civil war and from persecution," The Guardian quotes Merkel.
Meanwhile, Bavarian authorities said they are almost at full capacity after accepting two-thirds of the 18,000 migrants who have flocked to Munich after exiting Austria last weekend. Upper Bavarian government president Christoph Hillenbrand called for improvement in cross-border communications after they underestimated the number of arrivals on Sunday, the report relays.
For the moment, Bavarian authorities have opened an unused car showroom and a railway office as temporary camps for the refugees. They have already sent 4,000 individuals to other German states.
The European commission has responded to the migrant crisis and is now preparing to announce on Wednesday a mandatory quota for EU states. The proposal would require each EU state to relocate at least 120,000 migrants.
British prime minister David Cameron announced on Monday that the United Kingdom will accept 20,000 Syrian refugees in the next five years, with children as the top priority. He said they had a "moral responsibility" to help deal with the migrant crisis, at the same time put a stop to the conflict in Syria.
