- French PM Manuel Valls says Europe cannot take in any more refugees
- He called for tighter external border controls to determine fate of the EU
- Took veiled shot at Angela Merkel saying 'It wasn't France that said come'
- But the German leader says she is sticking by her open doors migration policy
- See more news on the migrant crisis at www.dailymail.co.uk/migrantcrisis
Europe is stretched to it limits and cannot take in any more migrants, according to the French Prime Minister.
And
in a veiled shot at German leader Angela Merkel, who said refugees were
welcome in Europe, Manuel Valls said that it wasn't France that 'told
them to come'.
Europe
is grappling with its worst refugee crisis since the Second World War
with almost one million refugees expected to arrive by the end of the
year.
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French Prime Minister Manuel Valls,
who gave an interview with a German newspaper saying Europe cannot take
in any more migrants
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Tribute: German Chancellor Angela
Merkel (left), French President Francois Hollande (centre), and Paris
Mayor Anne Hidalgo (right) pay their respects to the victims of the
attacks of the 13 November today
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Iranian migrants, who are stranded on railway tracks at the border between Greece and Macedonia today
But
in an interview with German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Mr Valls
said: 'We cannot accomodate any more refugees in Europe, that's not
possible', adding that tighter external border controls would determine
the fate of the EU.
'If we don't do that, the people will say "enough is enough", Valls warned.
The comments
were published only hours before German Chancellor Angela Merkel was
scheduled to meet French President Francois Hollande in Paris.
Merkel
was initially celebrated at home and abroad for her welcoming approach
to the refugees, many of whom are fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
But as the flow has continued the chancellor has come under increasing criticism.
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Flowers: The three leaders stand at the Place de la Republic, where they each left a white rose today
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Solemn: Mrs Merkel's visit to Paris is
part of President Hollande's diplomatic offensive to get the
international community to bolster the campaign against Islamic State
militants
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Leaving a white rose: Mrs Merkel and Mr Hollande pay their respects to the victims of the attacks in Paris
Some
conservatives say Merkel's decision to open up Germany's borders to
Syrian refugees in September has spurred more migrants to come.
The
refugee debate has become more politically charged after the deadly
attacks in Paris that stoked fears ISIS militants could exploit the
migrant crisis to send extremists to Europe.
Mr
Valls avoided criticising Merkel directly for having suspended European
asylum rules to allow in Syrian refugees stranded in Hungary but said
France was taken by surprise by the German leader's decision.
He added: 'Germany has made an honourable choice there.
'But it was not France that said: Come!'
But despite the criticism, Mrs Merkel told Germany's lower house today that she would be standing by her open doors policy.
In
a nod to critics in her conservative party, especially in Bavaria,
where most of the migrants enter Germany, she said that migrants who do
not need protection must be sent home.
'But simply sealing ourselves off will not solve the problem,' she said.
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A migrant baby cries as she is
surrounded by migrants in Greece. Almost one million migrants will have
come to Europe by the end of the year
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The refugee debate has become more
politically charged after the deadly attacks in Paris that stoked fears
ISIS militants could exploit the migrant crisis
Merkel
repeated her 'we will cope' mantra and reiterated her argument that
Europe must tackle the causes of the crisis by working for peace in
Syria and engaging Turkey as a partner in the refugee crisis.
She
countered politicians in some countries who have warned that the
refugee crisis has exposed problems in Europe's Schengen passport-free
area, saying that states must develop it further by agreeing on migrant
quotas.
'A
distribution of refugees according to economic strength and other
conditions ... and the readiness for a permanent distribution mechanism
... will determine whether the Schengen area will hold in the long
term,' she said.
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New Polish Prime Minister Beata
Szydlo, who said her government was not prepared to accept 4,500
refugees in the wake of the Paris terror attacks
Meanwhile
new Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said her government was not
prepared to accept 4,500 new refugees, saying the Paris terror attacks
had 'changed the situation.'
Mrs Szydlo said: 'After Paris, the situation has changed.
'We will be proposing to sit down at a table and think over, whether the solutions which have been proposed are good.
'In our view, we are not prepared to accept those quotas of refugees.'
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