| Berlin backs Athens over refugee influx |
Germany has pledged to support Greece in dealing with the 'extraordinary burden' of refugees landing on its shores every day, as the death toll from the latest boat sinkings rose to 15.
More than half a million people have arrived by sea in Greece this year seeking safety and a better life in Europe, and more than 3200 people have died making the perilous crossing from Turkey.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on a visit to Athens, said Berlin was ready to stand by Greece as it coped on the front line of Europe's biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
'At a moment when Greece is trying to recover economically, this influx is an extraordinary burden,' Steinmeier told the Greek daily Ta Nea.
'We will support Greece as it faces up to this big challenge.'
Europe, he said, 'must demonstrate more courage in order to grow stronger'.
'We must act together to take control of the situation, to safeguard Europe's external borders, to develop a common approach to asylum and immigration and to fairly share out the refugees,' he said.
More than 700,000 people have reached Europe via the Mediterranean in 2015, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), with many hoping to make it to Germany, the continent's economic powerhouse.
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