LOC13:04
10:04 GMT
BERLIN, Sept 20 (KUNA) -- Germany can no longer absorb more inflows of immigrants, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
The chancellor, in interview with the Italian newspaper "Courier de la Serra," excerpts of which were released by the presidential palace on Wednesday, said Berlin had received more than a third of the immigration applications registered with the European Union over the past six months.
He indicated that the pile of immigration requests has come as the nation is already reeling under the heavy burden of accommodating one million Ukrainian refugees who have fled their war-stricken home country.
Steinmeier, speaking ahead of his departure to Sicily, Italy, affirmed that his country had already reached the maximum accommodation limits for the incomers.
The president called for cutting numbers of incoming immigration seekers to both countries, however he stopped short of saying how.
His remarks came after authorities on the Italian island of Lampedusa, located 190 kms from the Tunisian shores, declared a state of emergency on the island after arrivals of huge numbers of immigration seekers.
In Germany, municipal authorities have also called for help as they can no longer provide shelters for the newcomers.
The Mediterranean has become a corridor for poverty stricken peoples on the African side crossing to the European side to attain regular living conditions. (end)
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