German Minister Finds "Cure" for Countries Resisting Refugee Reception

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has threatened a "qualified majority vote" to impose refugee distribution on EU countries resisting it, in an interview published on Friday, reports the Patria News Agency.

"It is impossible for Germany, Austria, Sweden and Italy alone to bear the burden" of accepting migrants arriving in Europe, Steinmeier assessed in an interview with the German daily Passauer Neue Presse.

Several EU countries, such as Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, categorically reject the idea of mandatory refugee distribution by quotas.

"If there is no other way, we will have to consider the possibility of resorting to a qualified majority vote" of EU countries, added the head of German diplomacy, who is traveling to Turkey on Friday for talks on the refugee crisis.

Provided for by European treaties, a majority vote requires 55 percent of EU countries representing at least 65 percent of the population to vote for the measure, which would then be imposed on all 28 EU countries.

A meeting of the European interior ministers of the 28 EU countries is scheduled for September 22 in Brussels, before an extraordinary summit of EU heads of state and government the following day, writes Index.