Macron, Merkel urge ‘European response’ to migrant crisis

MESEBERG: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Tuesday for a joint European response to the EU’s flashpoint challenge of immigration amid deep divisions in the bloc.

Macron said the EU needs “a European response to the migration challenge,” with more capacity for border agency Frontex to monitor its outside borders.He also said Paris and Berlin are in favour of deals that would allow EU member states to reject at their borders asylum seekers already registered elsewhere in the bloc, usually their first port of call.

“France and Germany will ensure that those who are registered in a Schengen zone country can be taken back as quickly as possible to the country where they were registered,” he said, vowing to achieve this through bilateral and multi-national agreements.This would meet a demand Germany’s hardline Interior Minister Horst Seehofer made forcefully last week, spelling a political crisis for Merkel.

Merkel, who must now seek agreements with other member states to appease Seehofer, said that “we are in favour of supporting affected states, and of course for solidarity between member states”.