According to BAMF press secretary Katrin Hirseland, the reasons for this influx are, on the one hand, the growth in the number of crisis regions in the world (in particular, the ever-expanding military conflict in Syria and Iraq), and on the other, rising unemployment in the Balkan countries.
Only in January of this year, 5,340 refugees from Syria and 3,034 from Kosovo applied for asylum to German authorities, with Serbs coming in third – 2,042 applications. In total, according to BAMF, in January 2015, 21,679 people applied for asylum in Germany, 73% more than in January 2014, when there were 12,556.
The Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) also has its own forecast. There they expect that in 2015, about 160,000 people who have been granted refugee status will be able to use the BA's advisory assistance and its support for integration into the German labor market. This was facilitated by a recent decision of the Bundestag, according to which asylum seekers gain access to the labor market not after 15 months, as before, but after three.
At the same time, the number of people deported from Germany increased sharply last year. In 2014, 10,884 people were deported from Germany – a record number since 2006 (13,894). Most of them were deported to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo – countries that the German Foreign Ministry classifies as stable. This data is contained in the official response of the federal government to a request from the Left Party faction in the Bundestag.
In addition, the number of refugees from Ukraine is growing. According to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), in the second quarter of 2014 alone, the number of Ukrainian refugees to EU countries increased sevenfold (!) compared to the same period in 2013, reaching 2,470 people. Now this figure is significantly higher, since the conflict in eastern Ukraine was just escalating in April-May 2014. But Ukraine not only 'supplies' more and more of its refugees to Europe and in particular to Germany – it is also a transit point for illegal migrants on their way to EU countries.
According to Spiegel magazine, in 2014 Kyiv received €30 million from Brussels for the setup of new centers for transit migrants and improvement of conditions at existing reception points (for comparison: for 2015, from the European Commission funds, Germany was allocated €7 million for the same purposes, Italy – €13.7 million).
The situation with refugees from crisis regions of the world is fraught with another very serious problem. As reported last week by the Spanish newspaper El País, the risk of penetration into EU countries by European jihadists fighting in Iraq and Syria on the side of the 'Islamic Caliphate' has increased.
'Spain has become a transit base for jihad,' writes El País. 'Mafias that long ago emerged to smuggle migrants into Europe are now also used to infiltrate jihad veterans into the continent. They cross the borders of their states unnoticed by official authorities. Returning veterans, with skills in using weapons and explosives, pose the greatest threat to Europe's internal security.'
The article quotes a fragment of a report by the Central Department of Illegal Immigration Networks and Forged Documents of the Spanish General Commissariat for Immigration and Documentation (UCRIF), which states: 'The mass exodus from combat zones has spawned a flourishing network of human smuggling using forged documents, including fake German visas, to move thousands of migrants to European countries.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the same networks are used for the illegal entry of 'Islamic Caliphate' veterans using fake documents into countries of origin in order to organize terrorist cells and attacks. The Islamic Caliphate derives a double benefit from the existence of such networks: besides infiltrating jihadists, it controls part of the traffic and directly profits from it.'
61% of Germans are against immigration from non-EU countries. These are the data from a January (2015) study conducted by the Eurobarometer public opinion service of the European Commission. This is higher than the EU average of 57%. Only Slovakia (74%), Italy (75%) and Latvia (79%) are higher. The lowest rate is in Sweden (25%), the UK – 57%, France – 58%. 'Migration has become more explosive,' conclude Eurobarometer experts.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledges the current situation with refugees in Europe as 'unsatisfactory.' 'We must fight the causes of forced migration, for which it is important to ensure political stability in crisis regions,' she said in a video message published on the official website of the Federal Chancellery. About the causes of these crises, as well as how to ensure stability in chaos-ridden Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria or Ukraine, the chancellor said nothing.
Sergei Debrer.
'Russkaya Germaniya'.