French President Francois Hollande said Friday that Paris and Berlin had “the same spirit and the same will” in handling the migrant crisis, which has at times strained bilateral ties.
French President Francois Hollande said Friday that Paris and Berlin had “the same spirit and the same will” in handling the migrant crisis, which has at times strained bilateral ties.
Mr Hollande met Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris to discuss the crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands flooding to the EU to escape poverty and conflict, notably in Syria.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in February that Paris was “not in favour” of Ms Merkel’s proposal to set up a permanent system to redistribute more refugees around Europe.
“France has committed to take 30,000 refugees ... But no more,” Mr Valls said.
He also said that Ms Merkel’s liberal refugee policy, which brought 1.1 million asylum seekers to Germany in 2015, was not sustainable in the long run.
However despite their differences, Mr Hollande insisted Friday that “France and Germany are working with the same spirit and the same will” on the crisis. And Ms Merkel said that “together, we are convinced that unilateral solutions won’t help us.”
Meanwhile, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Friday sought to smooth over controversial comments made by a fellow Cabinet member over how thousands of migrants waiting in France could flood into Britain if it left the European Union.
