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Kara Tepe refugee camp on the island of Lesbos (archive photo)
Photo: Panagiotis Balaskas / dpa
In a cross-party »Christmas roll call«, 243 members of the Bundestag have called on the federal government to accept additional refugees who are currently stuck in Greece.
This is reported, among other things, by the »Tagesschau«.
In doing so, the government should work with federal states and municipalities that are willing to accept them, says the call, which is supported by members from several parliamentary groups.
Co-signers are, for example, the Green parliamentary group leaders Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Anton Hofreiter, as well as party leader Annalena Baerbock, SPD leader Saskia Esken, the left parliamentary group leaders Amira Mohamed Ali and Dietmar Bartsch and party leader Katja Kipping and the former Union parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder (CDU).
Germany had recently flown in more than 1,500 asylum seekers from Greece - they had already been recognized as in need of protection.
On Thursday, another 88 asylum seekers arrived in Hanover.
Overall, however, this is not enough, according to the appeal.
Accelerate admission - "beyond the already promised quota"
"That is why we, as members of the German Bundestag, call on the federal government to advocate compliance with human and European law standards."
The aim is to »accelerate the admission of refugees from the Greek islands to Germany«, expressly »also beyond the already promised quota«.
In addition, the federal government should advocate that other EU states also participate in humanitarian campaigns to take in refugees.
The MPs recalled that more than 200 German municipalities and some federal states have agreed to take in additional refugees.
"These commitments clearly exceed the admission coordinated by the federal government," says the appeal.
"We see the federal government as having an obligation to give the municipalities and states that can and want to enable accommodation that is worthy of human rights to accept acceptance," it says.
Moria as a »symbol of the failure of European asylum policy«
The appeal is justified with the catastrophic supply and hygiene situation in Greek camps.
This applies, for example, to Camp Moria on Lesbos, which burned down in September and which has "for years become a symbol of the failure of European asylum policy".
According to consistent reports from human rights organizations, the humanitarian situation in the new Kara Tepe interim camp is significantly worse than in Camp Moria, "the MPs write.
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