German President Joachim Gauck has warned that there are limits to how many refugees his nation can absorb as it prepares for as many as 800,000 arrivals this year.
Comments by the head of state, who has a largely ceremonial role, but whose words carry moral authority, were set to fuel a raging debate about how so many newcomers can be integrated into German society.
“We want to help. We have a big heart. However, there’s a limit to what we can do,” Gauck, a former rights activist in communist East Germany, said in a speech on Sunday evening.
Photo: EPA
“Our ability to take in people is limited, although we don’t know yet where those limits are,” he added.
Gauck appeared to be striking a more cautious tone than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has said Germany can cope with a record influx.
It came amid signs of tensions among asylum seekers, part of a wave of mass migration into the EU from the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Fourteen people were injured on Sunday when a brawl broke out between two rival groups in a refugee center in the western German town of Calden, police said. The refugees were being housed in tents set up on a disused airfield.
A union representing German police officers has suggested that refugees should be divided according to their religion to try to reduce the risk of conflict.
Merkel’s popularity has dropped sharply over her handling of the refugee crisis, two polls showed at the weekend, indicating a shift in the mood in the EU’s most populous nation.
The central government last week agreed to give its 16 regional states about 4 billion euros (US$4.5 billion) next year to help cover the cost of looking after refugees.
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