Icon: enlarge
The destroyed refugee camp of Moria
Photo: ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS / REUTERS
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) was the first cabinet member to comment on the fire in the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on Wednesday: It must be clarified as soon as possible how Greece could be supported.
"This also includes the distribution of refugees among those willing to accept them in the EU," he wrote on Twitter.
The SPD minister implicitly made a demand to Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU): act.
So far, however, Seehofer has been holding back, he will not comment on the disaster on Lesbos until Thursday.
Juso boss and SPD federal vice-president Kevin Kühnert told SPIEGEL that in view of the "indisputable situation on Lesbos" it was important to free the people from their situation and to finally dissolve the destroyed camp.
"We stand ready to free a significant part of the population from their misery at short notice through contingents."
The Moria catastrophe has been announced, and for months opposition politicians, activists and volunteers have been warning of an escalation in the completely overcrowded camp, where at least 12,600 people recently lived in miserable conditions.
A few weeks ago the coronavirus was first detected in the camp, 35 cases have been confirmed since then.
Now it burned down almost completely on Wednesday night.
Videos show how people flee into the surrounding forests.
The Greek authorities assume that there was arson, but it is not yet known who started the fire.
Moria shows the failure of European refugee policy: The EU could not agree for months, the German government reacted cautiously to demands from countries and the opposition to support Greece by taking in people.
Seehofer set up a program that is primarily symbolic: 190 sick children should be allowed to come to Germany with their families, a total of around 1000 people.
The interior minister stopped federal states that had offered to accept refugees through state programs.
For weeks, the SPD state interior ministers have been trying to get into conversation with Seehofer.
A new date has now been set for the coming week, but that is not enough for the Social Democrats.
"The offers of several municipalities and federal states have been on the table for weeks. The willingness of many to help at short notice is there," said Thuringian SPD Interior Minister Georg Maier to SPIEGEL.
"We talked long enough, all the facts are on the table long ago."
SPD Vice Kühnert
The SPD member of the Bundestag Helge Lindh called for Moria to be evacuated immediately.
"Germany should take in several thousand people, just like other European countries. We need a very quick agreement on a distribution key," he said.
The proceedings should "not drag on for months, as was the case with the refugee children".
In the event that there were concerns about a lack of paper, Lindh suggested first bringing refugees from the Greek mainland to Germany and then bringing the people from Moria to the mainland.
Union does not want Germany to go it alone
From the point of view of the CDU and CSU, the matter is as follows: You can imagine all possible steps - but not in Germany alone.
The Union wants a coordinated European response.
According to SPIEGEL information in the Federal Cabinet, Seehofer signaled that he was not thinking of accepting refugees for the time being.
Union parliamentary group vice-chairman Thorsten Frei (CDU) also made it clear in the morning that a European solution is being insisted on - then Germany will not refuse to accept further refugees from Moria.
His party friend Matthias Middelberg, domestic policy spokesman for the Union faction, spoke out firmly against a national aid campaign.
Germany going it alone would "not be helpful because it could give the impression that Germany would take in the refugees on its own".
Volker Ullrich, domestic policy spokesman for the CSU regional group, told SPIEGEL: "The images from Moria are very terrible and in no way compatible with our idea of dignity and harmony."
There is now an urgent need for humanitarian aid and a European agreement on a common asylum system and a Europe-wide distribution very soon.
CDU Vice and NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet offered immediate help from his country.
"Today I personally offered Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis direct and quick help from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. We now need both: quick, immediate aid for Moria and sustainable, European help in taking in children and families."
North Rhine-Westphalia is ready to take in up to 1000 refugees in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Laschet agreed with Interior Minister Joachim Stamp (FDP).
He had written on Twitter that it was "pathetic that the EU watched so long until this escalation occurred in Moria".
In an interview with the WDR he reiterated his criticism of Seehofer and Maas, who had so far remained inactive.
A week and a half ago, Stamp presented his plan for Moria in a SPIEGEL interview: It is about 20,000 people in total, he said.
The federal states could accept 2000 people, 3000 people should be distributed to other EU states.
A new camp that meets international standards could be built for 5,000 more people - 5,000 more could be housed on mainland Greece.
Erik Marquardt, MEP for the Greens, has been to Lesbos for weeks over and over again in recent months to get an idea of the local situation.
He complained on Twitter that Europe and Germany had failed.
"We could have acted, we were unable. We cannot treat people like that and believe that this is a solution," he wrote.
And in another tweet: "No matter who started the fire: The European idea is also burning in Moria."
Icon: The mirror
Collaboration: Florian Gathmann and Veit Medick