PARIS, Aug 27 : Germany's vice-chancellor and foreign minister slammed one of the cornerstones of EU migration policy as "unsustainable" in comments published Thursday, jointly saying Europeans owed it "to the world" to help migrants and refugees.
Europe's largest economy has gone on the offensive in recent days to push for a joint EU response to the biggest migration crisis to hit the continent since World War II, as it prepares to host a record 800,000 asylum-seekers this year.
"Never before have so many people fled political persecution and war as today. Many of them are seeking refuge here with us in Europe," Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in the French daily Le Figaro.
"In view of the crises in our neighbourhood, we must assume that this could remain the case for years," they added in a comment piece also published in Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Germany announced this week that it would stop returning Syrian asylum-seekers to their first EU port of entry, as stipulated under the so-called Dublin Regulation that governs migration in the European Union.
Meanwhile, As many as 50 refugees were found dead in a parked truck in eastern Austria on Thursday, the Krone newspaper reported, saying initial indications were that they suffocated.
An interior ministry spokesman confirmed that a tractor trailer had been found on a motorway by the town of Parndorf.     ?AGENCIES