The Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany has threatened countries refusing to take in migrants with less funding and penalize them. These countries include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic who have refused to take in refugees from fellow EU members Italy and Greece.
In a post on social media platform Facebook Mr. Schulz said, “There are those countries that say yes to Europe when they get something. And they say no when they are supposed to do something, like for example accepting refugees. This must end. As chancellor, I will veto any EU budget that is not based on the principle of solidarity,”
Around the time of June, the EU Commission began legal action Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary for not upholding migration burden-sharing deal reached in 2015.
Former Italian premier Matteo Renzi also made similar comments about the other Eastern EU members. He accused such members of selfishness and retaliation with a cut in EU funds to these nations. In a written statement he said, “If you don’t show solidarity on migration, I think it is absolutely legitimate for bigger countries to not show solidarity on [EU budget] contributions,”
Such comments by MR. Schulz comes as he is aiming to dethrone German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He believes her stance on immigration does not suit the EU and is aiming to make radical changes by becoming the Chancellor of the most powerful EU member. If he accomplishes this goal we may soon see more migrants in countries like Poland and ultimately closer to the UK.
