News Digest

Germany braced for record influx as migration crisis worsens

Germany could see as many as 800,000 migrants arriving this year — four times the number from last year, its interior minister said Wednesday. Thomas de Maiziere told reporters more than 360,000 migrants have flooded into Germany this year, including a record of 83,000 in July that he predicted would be broken in August. Germany has struggled to accommodate a wave of asylum-seekers from war zones such as Syria but also from countries without military conflict in southeastern Europe, including Albania, Serbia and Kosovo. Europe’s biggest economy has become the top destination for those fleeing war and persecution but de Maiziere said other European partners must also share the refugee load. Germany is also looking at differentiating between refugees from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, and the roughly 40 percent of asylum applicants who come from the Balkan nations.

Germany cannot take 40 percent of all of the asylum seekers forever.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere

In recent days Germany started airing public service announcements on TV in Balkan countries urging people to stay home and stressing that if they leave for economic reasons, they have almost no chance of political asylum. Politicians are also looking at speeding up the process for asylum-seekers from the region in which they would be given an answer, as well as possibly deported, within a shorter timeframe. Proponents hope such an accelerated process could free up resources to deal with requests from those fleeing conflict-torn countries like Syria. Migrant numbers across the EU have shot up in recent months. Many undertake dangerous sea voyages to reach southern Europe, then make their way across the continent to countries where they hope to make a life for themselves. Germany has a long tradition of welcoming refugees, in part a response to its Nazi past when 500,000 Jews and opponents of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich fled

It will be the largest influx in the country’s post-war history…it’s a challenge for all of us at the state, federal and local levels. We can master this challenge. I don’t think this will overwhelm Germany. We can handle this.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere