German FM says EU member states need to share refugee burden


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AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Germany's foreign minister says the European Union needs to find a way to share the burden of taking in Syrian war refugees.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke Saturday in Amman at a news conference with his Jordanian counterpart.

Steinmeier says Germany is hosting 130,000 Syrian refugees, as one of just a few countries in Europe to do so. Close to 4 million Syrians have fled their country since the conflict there began in 2011.

The majority are being hosted by neighboring countries like Jordan.

Steinmeier suggested that Europe could absorb more refugees. He says that "we need to see if we can't organize a system of sharing the burden" in a European quota system.

He says the idea is controversial and will be debated by EU foreign ministers next week.

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