Germany Criticizes Austria for Moving Refugees to Bavarian Border
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Austria should stop waving asylum seekers through to Germany and turn to processing their applications, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Wednesday.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting chaired by Chancellor Angela Merkel, de Maiziere stressed that moving groups of migrants to the Bavarian border and letting them cross over by themselves without warning German authorities in advance was not "how it is done among friends."
"It is important that…we return to the orderly [border control] measures, and I think it will be the case," the minister said, adding that Austria’s behavior had not been "in order" in the past few days, Sputnik News reported.
De Maiziere also said Afghans were the second largest group after Syrians in terms of refugees arriving in Germany in October. This trend is estimated to remain constant throughout this year, he said, adding that many of the Afghan refugees were middle class.
Thousands of refugees, most of them from Syria and Afghanistan, have been entering through Germany’s southeastern region of Bavaria every night, putting additional pressure on local authorities.
Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has issued an ultimatum to the federal government, demanding that the uncontrolled inflow of migrants be stopped.
Over 200,000 refugees arrived in Bavaria in September, which depleted the state's resources for receiving migrants, according to the Bavarian authorities.
