58
flow of people, and leaving
hundreds stranded in Greece.
Merkel dismissed such a "rigid
limit", saying: "There is no point
in believing that I can solve the
problem through the unilateral
closure of borders."
GERMAN DIVIDE
Merkel made her comments as
the rift widened in her governing
coalition over how to cope with
an influx of refugees.
Leading German Social
Democrats, part of the country's
governing coalition, earlier
accused Merkel's conservative
finance minister of being too
thrifty in dealing with the
migrant crisis.
The criticism came after Finance
Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble
labelled Social Democrat
proposals for wider social
spending on housing and public
services to complement the
integration of migrants as
"pitiful".
Stephan Weil, the Social
Democrat premier of the state of
JF mag!
Lower Saxony, hit back on
Sunday, calling for a bigger
social services budget as the
country accommodates over a
million migrants. Merkel said she
did not support such an idea.
"The finance minister obviously
just doesn't get it," Weil told the
Sueddeutsche Zeitung
newspaper.
Pointing to the high cost of
integrating migrants, Weil said:
"We cannot create the impression
that this is happening at the
expense of the weaker members
of our society."
Heiko Maas, justice minister and
a Social Democrat, was similarly
critical and made a renewed call
for more spending. "What's more
important? The people in the
country or balancing the
budget?"
Schaeuble, a long-standing
proponent of prudence, wants to
prevent Germany from spend ing
more than it earns and is unlikely
to be easily moved.