BERLIN (AP) — The latest in the odyssey of hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing Europe in search of a new life. All times local. 11:05 a.m. The European Union is lashing member countries for dragging their feet on providing funds and experts to help manage Europe's biggest refugee emergency in decades. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told EU lawmakers Tuesday that "the member states have been moving slowly at a time when they should be running." The EU's border agency Frontex has appealed for 775 experts to help register, screen and fingerprint people arriving in Italy and Greece. But so far only about half that number has been pledged. Juncker said that "half is not enough, we need more." He said more funds and experts are "crucially essential if we want operational decisions to be implemented," and warned that the EU is "losing all kinds of credibility." ___ 11:00 a.m. French authorities are taking nearly 300 migrants out of a bulging, slum-like camp in Calais and busing them to other regions of France. The operation Tuesday is aimed at relieving pressure on the port city and the camp, known locally as "the jungle," which is believed to have doubled in size in recent weeks to as many as 6,000 people. Months of new security measures and tough warnings from British and French authorities have failed to stop asylum-seekers and others from converging on Calais, from where they hope to sneak across the English Channel to Britain. The local administration said in a statement that social workers have identified 292 people willing to abandon their effort to reach Britain and apply for asylum in France instead. It said the newcomers will be bused to temporary housing centers from Provence to Brittany and Lorraine. ___ 10:45 a.m. Germany is considering sending police officers to Slovenia following Sunday's decision by a summit of European leaders to dispatch 400 border guards to the small Alpine nation as it struggles to cope with the influx of migrants. The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that Germany's federal police force, whose responsibilities include guarding borders, is examining possible participation in the deployment. It didn't say how many officers might be deployed but noted that federal police are already busy with border checks at home and pointed to an existing pledge to provide 50 extra officers to help the EU border agency, Frontex, in Greece. The federal police help provide security for German embassies abroad and also have long participated in international missions in countries including Kosovo and Afghanistan. ___ 9:05 a.m. Bavaria's governor is pressing Chancellor Angela Merkel to complain to her Austrian counterpart about an uncoordinated flow of migrants toward Germany's border. Governor Horst Seehofer, who has been the most prominent domestic critic of Merkel's decision last month to allow in migrants who had piled up in Hungary, was quoted Tuesday as telling the daily Passauer Neue Presse: "This behavior by Austria is burdening neighborly relations. We can and must not treat each other this way." Seehofer said it's up to Merkel, who made last month's decision along with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, to speak to the Austrians. Most migrants who have arrived in Austria from Hungary and more recently Slovenia have simply continued to Germany. All of Germany's border with Austria is in Bavaria. Join the conversation about this story »
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