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The refusal of some EU countries to accept Muslim refugees is "unacceptable," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday as her government called for quotas to divide the influx throughout the bloc.
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"That's not right at all that some countries say: 'generally speaking, we don't want to have Muslims in our countries,'" Merkel told German public television channel ARD.
Backing the idea of a quota system for taking in migrants, the German leader stressed that "everyone must do their part," and that "a common solution must be found."
A common European migration policy will be on the agenda of an EU summit next month, but Eastern members the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia refuse to take in refugees under an EU-wide quota system championed by Berlin.
Slovak President Robert Fico has vowed he would "never bring even a single Muslim" into his country.
On Tuesday, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said he does not want a "large Muslim community... given the problems we are seeing" and that each EU member should be able to choose how many migrants to accept.
German public support for Merkel has been weakening in recent months, after a string of terrorist attacks on civilians in July. On Sunday, a poll showed that half of Germans did not want her to serve a fourth term in office after a federal election next year.
However, Merkel has been one of the only European leader who has been a vocal supporter of war refugees and Muslims despite growing racism in the region. After New Eve's attacks in Cologne, she vowed not to change Germany's open-door policies, to "stick to our principles" and to "give shelter to those who need it."
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Meanwhile, the refugee crisis has played in the favor of the right-wing opposition party Alternative for Germany, or AFT, whose support is now in the double digits in the last regional polls held in March; arson attacks on refugee centers and sometimes violent protests have become increasingly common. While many Germans have welcomed the new arrivals, a growing number claim the country cannot cope with integration and fear losing their identity.
Yet according to a recent Oxfam report, most western countries, including Germany, have taken in a very small percentage of asylum seekers that exist, with many more seeking shelter in poor countries such as Turkey and Lebanon.
According to the Migration Policy Institute Europe, Germany has recently implemented several important changes to its immigration and asylum policy such as delaying family reunifications for some refugees by up to two years, making it harder for refugees to obtain permanent residency and shortening temporary resident permits.
The recent modifications also include a shift from offering full and categorical refugee statuses based on nationality to case-by-case determinations
Last year about 1 million refugees entered Germany, with many escaping violence and persecution in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean sea.
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