Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Tumult when visiting a refugee camp

Tumultuous scenes occurred during Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to a refugee camp in Malakasa near the Greek capital Athens. Hundreds of refugees greeted him with loud shouts of “ID, ID” and “Germany, Germany” and followed him behind a high fence as he walked through the camp facilities. Some of them tried to get through to Steinmeier. But they were held back far away from him by security forces. Given the angry mood, the Federal President shortened his visit by half an hour.

In the camp he found out about the registration and initial reception of refugees, who are currently increasingly coming to Greece again. While 41,500 new arrivals were counted throughout last year, this year there are already more than 48,000. For Greece, with its 10.5 million inhabitants, the migrants coming across the Mediterranean represent a major challenge.

Steinmeier later said that this protest was also an appeal to European governments not to close the borders as they are now increasingly doing. “We understand and can understand that the refugees have this expectation. But I think, given the state of our societies, we would also do well to actually reduce the number of arrivals compared to recent years.”

Steinmeier called for a common European solution to the refugee problem. “We will not find solutions by opposing each other,” he emphasized. “If governments and states work together, some things will become easier. But the migration problem will not disappear from the agenda tomorrow either.”