Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFPCountries that fail to take part in the quota scheme for assigning asylum seekers around the European Union could themselves be denied help in other areas, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday. The chancellor's comments read like a warning to eastern European countries, who receive billions of euros in net benefits from EU membership -- unlike net contributor countries such as Germany. Eastern governments last week reacted angrily to a court decision requiring them to accept a share of asylum seekers from overstretched Greece and Italy. Hungary and Slovakia failed Wednesday in a challenge before the 28-nation EU's top court, the European Court of Justice, to block the quota scheme agreed in Brussels two years ago. In more conciliatory comments, Merkel said assigning asylum seekers across European Union countries will be simpler once Europe's shaky migration policy is on a firmer footing.

Source: The Local September 10, 2017 07:52 UTC