Germany pledged an extra six billion euros Monday to help the record numbers of desperate refugees crossing its borders, with France vowing to take in 24,000 over the next two years, AFP reports.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the scenes of spontaneous solidarity from hundreds of Germans who greeted families fleeing wars in Syria and beyond at railway stations with gifts and welcome signs were moving and "breathtaking".
"What we are experiencing now is something that will occupy and change our country in coming years," she said as French president Francois Hollande vowed his country would take a larger share.