NRW refugee minister wants international distribution of Ukraine refugees

DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) – North Rhine-Westphalia’s refugee minister Joachim Stamp (FDP) has called for an international distribution of war refugees from Ukraine. “We can only ensure decent accommodation in the next few weeks if there is international distribution,” said the deputy prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia to the daily newspaper “Welt” (Monday). Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) must get an international summit off the ground. “We also need the solidarity of the USA, Canada and Australia and above all the other European countries.” All countries would have to participate and accept large contingents.

He sees a completely different basic readiness in the European countries than during the refugee crisis of 2015. “But I believe that the dimensions of the current crisis are not yet clear to everyone.” One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war goals is to destabilize neighboring countries through large-scale expulsion.

When it came to distributing the refugees in Germany, the FDP politician suggested examining “whether larger-scale facilities could possibly be built in the more sparsely populated regions in the east.”

In Germany, more than 218,000 war refugees have been registered by the federal police since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine. According to the UN, more than 3.1 million people have fled Ukraine abroad. Around two million people have arrived in Poland alone./dot/DP/mis

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