On Tuesday, Merkel said that the German government had responsibilities toward its our people and reiterated her call for other EU countries to take their fair share of refugees.
"I believe we need to share migrants between all European countries. We have responsibilities toward the people of our own country to engage in full-scale diplomatic efforts to settle international conflicts," Merkel said, referencing to the conflict in Afghanistan.
She praised Vice Chancellor Gabriel for being sincere in his desire to tackle the challenges that the country faced, but said "no one can predict the future."
It currently requires refugees to seek asylum in the first EU country they arrive in, putting a disproportionately large burden on frontline states like Italy, Hungary, and Greece.
"Due to the Syrian civil war, the Dublin 3 scheme does not work," Merkel said, adding the Swedish leader had agreed that the proper registration of incoming migrants and fair mandatory quotas for their redistribution within Europe were needed to address the migrant crisis.
As EU’s largest economy, Germany has agreed to accept the lion's share of the refugees – mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea – that the European Commission plans to relocate among the EU member-states according to a quota system.
