Immigration puts European solidarity to the test

The German daily harshly criticises Europe's refugee policy: "Europe has closed its doors. The number of applications for asylum in the EU has gone down to a third of what it was ten years ago; in Germany the number of asylum seekers hasn't been this low since 1984. Far away from Berlin, refugees are washed up on the coast of Andalusia, dead or alive. And boats full of people half-dead from thirst float in the waters around Malta... The motto of the EU's refugee policy is: out of sight, out of mind. Those refugees from Africa who do manage to survive often don't get any further than Malta. But the states of Central Europe won't even think about setting quotas for the distribution of these refugees to spread the burden more equally. A proposal for such a policy has just been flatly refused. Malta is on its own."

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