GERMANY:THE EUROPEAN Union has reacted sceptically to a suggestion from German interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble to give priority treatment to Christian refugees who fled Iraq after the 2003 war.
Schäuble, a senior Christian Democrat, called on Sunday for the EU to offer Christian minorities "help and a home in European countries until they can return".
Iraqi Christians, who make up three per cent of the population, have been the target of sectarian violence since the US-led invasion.
Around 1.5 million have fled to Iraq's neighbouring countries.
EU justice ministers meeting in Luxembourg yesterday postponed further discussion of the issue until June.
"International standards are such that they do not permit differentiation on the basis of religions or race. I am afraid it will be very hard to work in that way," said Dragutin Mate, interior minister of Slovenia, current holders of the EU presidency.
"I believe we must accept refugees and give them asylum . . . without the precondition of religion or of anybody's race."
Schäuble stood his ground yesterday, saying that Germany had a "general readiness to help refugees from Iraq, in particular those of Christian faith".
He was knocked back by his regular sparring partner in Berlin's grand coalition, the Social Democrat justice minister Brigitte Zypries.
"It's difficult when one starts to say we will accept people because of their religious beliefs," she said.
Schäuble declined to specify yesterday just how many refugees Germany was prepared to accept but spoke of an EU quota "proportional rule" based on population.
Sweden has so far taken the largest number of refugees from Iraq, around 18,000 last year, independent of religious belief.
Some 1,400 Iraqis applied for asylum in Germany last year, according to the interior ministry: 1.6 per cent were granted asylum while 72 per cent were granted "tolerated" refugee status.
A spokeswoman for Amnesty International welcomed EU moves to accept Iraqi refugees but criticised Mr Schäuble's suggestion for helping Christians as out of step with UN regulations.
"Some politicians seem to think that Christians will integrate themselves better here. We think that is discrimination: anyone can integrate themselves well, it depends on how good the integration measures on offer are," said Ms Ruth Jüttner, Amnesty International's Middle East expert in Berlin.
"Every minority is in danger in Iraq: all religious minorities, single women, people who worked as translators for troops, it's a long list.
"The level of danger should be the only criteria and Germany should be accepting all people in danger."
