The leaders of Austria and Germany have called for an emergency EU summit next week to address the continuing migrant crisis affecting their countries.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for other EU member states to shoulder a larger part of the burden.

She insisted her decision to reinstate controls on Germany’s borders was about monitoring, not exclusion:

“It is natural for us to want to look after our security interests. We did not close our borders in order to pass the problem to Austria. I do not want to do this. Rather, we said that now we need controls, we need an overview of those who enter the country”.

Her Austrian counterpart, Chancellor Werner Faymann, told reporters inaction is not an option:

“It is not shameful to be humanitarian. In fact, the opposite is true: looking the other way and not helping people when there is a humanitarian disaster in Europe would be shameful. Not acting would endanger the European project in the hearts of many people.”

The two leaders said the EU needs an urgent policy to deal with the crisis, adding that Germany, Austria and Sweden must not be left to handle it alone.

Euro News