Deep divisions persist within the European Union as thousands of distraught refugees arriving from war-torn countries, mainly Syria, continued to head towards Western Europe via the continent’s southern frontiers. Aljazeera reports:
The French foreign minister on Monday criticised Hungary for its move to erect a fence on its border to stop people as Germany and Britain joined in to call for action to defend the “dignity” of refugees ahead of fresh emergency talks on September 14. The three Western European nations have pressed for better processing of refugees arriving in southern Europe, as countries such as Greece, Italy, and Hungary have struggled to cope with the influx of refugees. Some 300,000 people have crossed this year alone.
In an interview with French radio on Sunday, Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said the measure was “extremely harsh. Hungary is part of Europe, which has values, and we do not respect those values by putting up fences that we wouldn’t even use for animals”.
Fabius also called the attitude of “a certain number of European countries, particularly in the east” who oppose a quota scheme for the distribution of refugees across EU member states “scandalous”. He did not name the countries targeted by that remark.
