BERLIN — Europe’s diverging approaches to the refugee crisis came into sharp focus yesterday, with Germany vowing to prioritise funding to aid migrants and Hungary promising to speed up work on a barrier to keep them out.

Mr Istvan Simicsko, who was named Hungary’s Defence Minister on Monday, said the country must devote more resources to quickly fortifying a razor-wire border fence with a sturdier structure. That contrasted with comments from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who said other spending requests will be subordinated to provide €6 billion (S$9.6 billion) in added funds to care for the country’s largest influx of refugees from Syria, Iraq and North Africa since World War II.

“This is a test for Germany and Europe,” Mr Schauble told lawmakers in Berlin as he laid out the government’s 2016 Budget plan. “It presents all of us, the state as well as society, with the biggest challenge we’ve seen for a long time.”

The two European Union countries have been at odds over the handling of the crisis during the last week, as thousands of migrants in Hungary crossed the border into Austria and travelled onwards to Germany.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for country-by-country refugee quotas across the 28-member EU, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban argues doing so will simply encourage more migrants to come. Mr Orban has taken a get-tough approach, building a razor-wire fence along the frontier with Serbia, beefing up the number of police and soldiers along the border and pushing through laws making it easier to immediately deport anyone entering from countries deemed “safe” and making it a crime to cross the border illegally. He has called on Germany to stop accepting the migrants, who he claimed are not fleeing danger but want “a German life”.

Hungary plans to deploy as many as 4,000 soldiers to complete construction of the sturdier fence should Parliament approve the measure, Mr Simicsko told reporters in Budapest, calling the situation “extremely grave”.

EU QUOTA ALLOCATION

Germany — which estimates that 800,000 migrants will enter the country in 2015, nearly four times last year’s figure — is backing a European Commission plan that will be announced today. Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission’s president, will propose relocating 120,000 migrants in Italy, Greece and Hungary to countries throughout the EU, according to an EU official who asked not to be identified, discussing proposals that are not yet public.

France is ready to take in 24,000 refugees as part of the EU proposal, French President Francois Hollande said on Monday, dismissing opinion polls showing public opposition to the move. “This is a crisis, and it is a grave and dramatic one. It can be brought under control and it will be,” Mr Hollande said.

“Everyone must understand: You can’t ask for (European) solidarity when there’s a problem and then exempt yourself from doing your duty when there is a solution.”

The Socialist President said France was ready to take 1,000 refugees immediately from among those flooding into Germany, to show solidarity with its closest European partner.

The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark will not be included in the EU plan because they have an opt-out on immigration policy. But British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged on Monday to take 20,000 refugees over five years, saying his country will accept people directly from camps in the Middle East instead of those already in Europe. Mr Cameron argues that this will make the process more orderly and cut down on human trafficking.

Orphans would get priority in a programme he likened to the “modern equivalent of the Kinder transport” scheme, when Britain gave sanctuary to thousands of Jewish children in World War II. “In doing so we will continue to show the world that this is a country of extraordinary compassion, always standing up for our values and helping those in need,” he said.

REFUGEE FUNDING

Mr Juncker’s proposal will include €6,000 in funding per refugee for the country taking them in and provide €500 per migrant to the nation where they enter the EU, with countries that refuse to participate having to pay additional fees linked to their gross domestic product, the official said.

Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jorg Schelling said yesterday that the funds necessary to cover the increased influx of refugees this year would exceed what is budgeted. The ministry is calculating the new financing needs for review at a government meeting later this week.

“The number we have in the 2015 budget probably won’t hold, but we’re prepared for that,” Mr Schelling told reporters in Vienna. “We’ve made provisions in the budget framework because we knew the refugee numbers would rise.”

In Germany, the additional spending for refugees — part of a federal budget proposal totalling €312 billion — will come “without new borrowing if at all possible,” said Mr Schauble. “We can master this challenge. Our country has the strength for it.” AGENCIES