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Deep divisions persist within the European Union as thousands of distraught refugees arriving from war-torn countries, mainly Syria, continued to head towards Western Europe via the continent’s southern frontiers. The French foreign minister yesterday criticised Hungary for its move to erect a fence on its border to stop people as Germany and Britain joined in to call for action to defend the “dignity” of refugees ahead of fresh emergency talks on September 14.

The three Western European nations have pressed for better processing of refugees arriving in southern Europe, as countries such as Greece, Italy, and Hungary have struggled to cope with the influx of refugees. Some 300,000 people have crossed this year alone.

In an interview with French radio on Sunday, Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said the measure was “extremely harsh. Hungary is part of Europe, which has values, and we do not respect those values by putting up fences that we wouldn’t even use for animals”.

Fabius also called the attitude of “a certain number of European countries, particularly in the east” who oppose a quota scheme for the distribution of refugees across EU member states “scandalous”. He did not name the countries targeted by that remark.

EU member states have differed on ways to tackle the escalating refugee crisis in previous meetings.

“Europe needs to stop being moved and start moving,” Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, calling again for a fairer distribution of refugees among the 28 member states.

The interior ministers of France, the UK, and Germany, stressed the need to set up “hot spots” in Greece and Italy by the year’s end to ensure refugees are fingerprinted and registered, allowing authorities to quickly identify those in need of protection.

Meanwhile, Hungary, the gateway to the EU from Eastern Europe, is hoping to finish erecting a 175km razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia.

Hungary later on Sunday lashed out at Fabius, accusing him of “shocking and groundless judgments”.

Peter Szijjarto, Hungary’s foreign minister, said that the French embassy representative would be summoned over Fabius’ remarks. — AFP