Europe was ‘ill-prepared’ for refugee deluge, says German ambassador to the U.S.

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• GWEN IFILL:

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel today called for an emergency summit next Tuesday to deal with the refugee and migrant crisis. The push comes one day after European ministers failed to reach a deal on resettlement quotas. Some of Germany's leaders have said the nation could receive one million people by the end of this year.

  For more on how the country and continent are dealing with the surge, I'm joined by Germany's ambassador to the United States Peter Wittig.

  Thank you for joining us.

• PETER WITTIG, Ambassador, Germany:

  It's a pleasure to be here.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Let's talk about this refugee summit that Chancellor Merkel is calling for.

  Given the resistance which any idea, any common solution had met in Brussels, is there a possibility that there's some one way to address this?

• PETER WITTIG:

  Well, we have to understand this is a crisis of historic proportions.

  Never, since the World War II, have we seen that flow of refugees pouring into Europe, so small wonder that Europe was ill-prepared for this momentous crisis. But I think all the countries have realized we can only solve this together. And it's a litmus test of European solidarity.

  And that's why the chancellor has called for an urgent summit, to do basically two things, provide more help for the front-line states, those states where the refugees transit through or enter the European Union, help them manage the border, help them to receive the refugees in a dignified manner, and help to fight human trafficking.

• GWEN IFILL:

  And the second thing is, the second challenge is to find a fair and a fairer distribution of those refugees among us. In a way, this is a litmus test for European solidarity. Well, let me pick up on that, because, last week, we had a European Union ambassador here sitting here where you are. And his solution, their solution was that there be mandatory quotas imposed, that certain countries, every country in the E.U. would have to take a certain number of migrants.

• PETER WITTIG:

  And that has not been — that has not gone over well. So, is that dead? It's not dead. It's still on the table.

  And the homeland security ministers, they discussed this, and they reached an agreement that they would work together in that direction. But some countries have not embraced that idea because of their domestic politics, because they think they can't receive that many refugees. It's not off the table, but it's not all of it.

  I think it's a package. We have got to support those countries that are receiving the refugees. The first point of entry, like Greece, like Italy, like Hungary, we have got to enable them to receive and process, is the word, the refugees in a more dignified way. And then we have got to reform our own asylum, Europe asylum system, make it more coherent, and then again, yes, a fairer distribution of the refugees among the European member states.

  It cannot be that just two or three are bearing the brunt of the burden.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Well, among those two or three was Germany. Chancellor Merkel had her arms wide open, and now, however, is talking about border controls.

• PETER WITTIG:

  Is that a result of the domestic resistance to this notion of just throwing the doors open? Well, the German reaction to the refugee flow was generally very welcoming.

• GWEN IFILL:

  We saw an outpour, an overwhelming outpour of solidarity by thousands and thousands of volunteers in Germany. And so the reaction is still very positive. But the sheer number and the speed of the refugees, they are — now start to stretch the capabilities of our country, of the cities, of the municipalities. Is it also the kinds of refugees we're talking about? You served in Lebanon, if I'm not mistaken.

• PETER WITTIG:

  I did.

• GWEN IFILL:

  So you understand that the people we're talking about coming across these borders are not homogeneous, the way they are in so many other countries.

• PETER WITTIG:

  Well, the first concern is now to have a more orderly process. And we have got to house the refugees decently, give them food, school them.

• GWEN IFILL:

  And we have got to distinguish between those who are really in need of help, like the asylum-seeker who are politically persecuted, or the refugees from Syria. For instance, they need our help. How do you do that? How do you make that distinction, and then the extra distinction between those who are innocent and those who are dangerous?

• PETER WITTIG:

  Well, they have to go through a process of registration, and eventually seeking asylum, getting asylum, or getting the status of a refugee.

  And then we can help them and welcome them for a longer time. And there are others who come for different reasons that we might not be able to take in for good. So, there are security concerns also. We have to know who is coming into our countries.

  So now we are at a point — and that's the backdrop of that reintroduction of border controls. We're not closing the border, nor are we putting into question the system of free movement within Europe. But that's an emergency measure, in order to have a more orderly process of entry into our country.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Is it different for Germany, a country which is perhaps more welcoming to immigrants because you have an aging population and you could actually stand to have some — a greater influx of new citizens?

• PETER WITTIG:

  I think it's a couple of reasons.

  First of all, we have an historic legacy. We know the tremendous value of asylum, countries granting asylum. We have our own — we had in our history the Nazi dictatorship that produced refugees, so we have a very liberal asylum law.

  I think we saw this compassion in the German population which was really heartwarming for the victims of the civil war in Syria. That's something — I served there, and, you know, people are fleeing hell, fleeing the barrel bombs of Assad and the murderous swathes of ISIL.

  So I think that is what people felt. They need to — they wanted to comply with humanitarian norms.

• GWEN IFILL:

  You talked about the war in Syria and what's driving people out. How much responsibility does the European Union, Germany, the United States have to address or do something about the root causes of what's causing these people to flee?

• PETER WITTIG:

  The root causes, we have got to tackle.

  And I think this refugee crisis now should be a catalyst, if you will, a new incentive to once again try politically to cope with this cruel, horrendous civil war in Syria. And I think a good occasion would be the next meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in two weeks' time, where hopefully leaders will sit together and address that political challenge to come to a political solution in Syria that includes not only the main segments of the Syrian population, but also the main powers of the region, including Saudi Arabia and Iran and others.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Well, that certainly will be at the top of someone's agenda. We will see how it plays out in New York.

  Peter Wittig, U.S. — German ambassador to the United States, thank you very much.

• PETER WITTIG:

  Thank you, Gwen.