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Saturday, April 16, 2016

Kohl raises refugee concerns before Orban meeting

[People queue for tea at a makeshift camp for migrants and refugees at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni]Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl says he does not believe Europe can absorb millions of refugees and has appealed for more cooperation to deal with the crisis ahead of a meeting with right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Kohl, the architect of Germany's reunification and a leading driver of European integration, will host Orban - who has built a razor wire fence on Hungary's border with Serbia and Croatia to keep out migrants - at his home in Ludwigshafen on Tuesday. In a column due to appear on Sunday in the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag newspaper, Kohl described Orban as a friend, adding: "We are aware that we have something to lose and that it is worth fighting for the European project for peace and freedom." Conservative allies have brushed off any suggestion that Orban's visit might be intended as a snub to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Kohl's former protege, whose open-door migrant policy has drawn fierce attacks from the Hungarian premier.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com