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Germany

German Interior Minister Criticizes Merkel On Immigration

Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière in Brussels on Sep. 22.
Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière in Brussels on Sep. 22.

BERLIN — German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière has leveled harsh criticisms of Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow refugees to enter the country from Hungary earlier this month, describing the migrant situation in the country as chaotic, the weekly Der Spiegel reports.

Speaking on the television network ZDF (at 33:30), de Maizière, a member of the Merkel-led Christian Democratic Union, said the situation "had gotten out of control because of the decision to bring people from Hungary to Germany."

He added that "it was such a large number that it became impossible to count." In early September, Merkel allowed thousands of refugees blocked in Hungary, mostly fleeing the violence in Syria and Iraq, to enter Germany, before closing the border with Austria in mid-September.

"We will now do things in a more orderly way," de Maizière explained. This includes limiting the influx of asylum seekers into the country and respecting migrant quotas across EU countries.

At a summit in Brussels on Wednesday, EU leaders agreed on closer cooperation to stem the flow of refugees into the EU, and pledged at least $1.1 billion to help UN agencies handle the refugee crisis. "If we reach full quotas, then we say that they cannot come to Europe for now, maybe next year," said de Maizière.

With the current law, he added: "there is no limit for asylum seekers."

Merkel also faced criticism on her decision to welcome refugees by its sister party the Christian Social Union earlier this month. The head of the party Horst Seehofer described it as a "mistake that will we will have to deal with for a long time."

Seehofer has also led an anti-Merkel movement regarding immigration, supported by Hungary's conservative-nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Merkel later strongly rejected this criticism and refused to apologize for welcoming refugees: "If we now have to start apologizing for showing a friendly face in response to emergency situations, then that's not my country."*

Thursday night, the German Länders and the federal government agreed on several measures to address the refugee situation. Additional funds — 670 euros per refugee and per month — will be released for the German regions in charge of taking in refugees. Merkel also promised an acceleration of the asylum seeking process and a reduction "disincentives."

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Society

Genoa Postcard: A Tale Of Modern Sailors, Echos Of The Ancient Mariner

Many seafarers are hired and fired every seven months. Some keep up this lifestyle for 40 years while sailing the world. Some of those who'd recently docked in the Italian port city of Genoa, share a taste of their travels that are connected to a long history of a seafaring life.

A sailor smokes a cigarette on the hydrofoil Procida

A sailor on the hydrofoil Procida in Italy

Daniele Frediani/Mondadori Portfolio via ZUMA Press
Paolo Griseri

GENOA — Cristina did it to escape after a tough breakup. Luigi because he dreamed of adventures and the South Seas. Marianna embarked just “before the refrigerator factory where I worked went out of business. I’m one of the few who got severance pay.”

To hear their stories, you have to go to the canteen on Via Albertazzi, in Italy's northern port city of Genoa, across from the ferry terminal. The place has excellent minestrone soup and is decorated with models of the ships that have made the port’s history.

There are 38,000 Italian professional sailors, many of whom work here in Genoa, a historic port of call that today is the country's second largest after Trieste on the east coast. Luciano Rotella of the trade union Italian Federation of Transport Workers says the official number of maritime workers is far lower than the reality, which contains a tangle of different laws, regulations, contracts and ethnicities — not to mention ancient remnants of harsh battles between shipowners and crews.

The result is that today it is not so easy to know how many people sail, nor their nationalities.

What is certain is that every six to seven months, the Italian mariner disembarks the ship and is dismissed: they take severance pay and after waits for the next call. Andrea has been sailing for more than 20 years: “When I started out, to those who told us we were earning good money, I replied that I had a precarious life: every landing was a dismissal.”

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