The plight of the refugees formerly housed in the burned-down Moria camp on Lesbos has occupied much discussion in Germany over the past few weeks. Now, an opinion poll has found that 87 percent of people in Germany are in favour of accepting refugees - although half of them on the condition that other countries in Europe also do the same. 

Majority of Germans in favour of taking in Moria refugees

A substantial majority of Germans are in favour of accepting people from the Moria refugee camp, which was burned down on September 9 in a suspected arson attack. This was the finding of a DeutschlandTrend poll conducted by public broadcaster ARD. 

According to the survey, more than four out of 10 eligible voters in Germany (43 percent) are of the opinion that Germany should definitely take in refugees from Moria. A further 44 percent think that refugees from the destroyed camp should only be admitted on the condition that EU member states agree to a Europe-wide distribution of those seeking help. One in ten is against accepting refugees in principle. 

Opinion divided between Germany’s political parties

When it comes to political affiliation, the poll found that the majority of Greens and Left supporters are in favour of the unconditional acceptance of refugees from Moria. Supporters of the CDU / CSU union favour it as part of a European solution and SPD and FDP supporters are divided on the question. 

A look at AfD voters is interesting. On Friday, their Bundestag representative Gottfried Curio described the refugees in Moria as “arsonists” and categorically ruled out admission. However, it appears that this sentiment is not shared by the majority of his supporters: in the poll, half of all AfD supporters said they would be in favour of accepting refugees as part of a pan-European solution. Four out of 10 were against acceptance.

So far, the federal government is planning to bring 1.553 refugees from five Greek islands to Germany - mostly families with children.