Refugees have flooded Germany
At the end of the meeting held on Thursday, August 20, in Berlin, the interior ministers of the two countries, Thomas de Maizière and Bernard Cazeneuve, spoke in favor of common rules for obtaining refugee status in the EU and joint coordinated actions regarding migrants, reports Deutsche Welle citing the dpa agency.
In 2014, Germany already included Serbia, Macedonia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina in the list of 'safe countries of origin' to facilitate the deportation of migrants arriving from these countries back to their homeland. Next in line are Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo, where, according to the German and French sides, the situation is sufficiently stable.
Now Berlin and Paris are pushing for the creation of refugee registration centers in Italy and Greece, where EU experts could monitor the migration situation. In addition, the European Commission intends to accelerate negotiations with non-EU states on the deportation of migrants who have been denied refugee status.
Germany's concern with migration policy issues is quite understandable: in 2015 the country expects four times as many refugees as in the previous year. 'We need to expect that this year up to 800,000 refugees or asylum seekers will arrive in Germany,' said German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière) after consultations in Berlin with representatives of the federal states on Wednesday, August 19. He noted that this would be the largest influx of refugees in the history of the Federal Republic.
'This is a challenge for all of us,' the minister stated, adding, however, that the task of accepting such a number of refugees 'will not be impossible for Germany.' He said the country should prepare for a high influx of refugees in the coming years. At the same time, de Maizière emphasized that 'every refugee who arrives in Germany must be received with dignity, safety and in an appropriate manner.'
The new forecast was prepared by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The federal states and municipalities hope for a significant increase in financial support from the center due to the growing number of refugees. Until now, the office assumed that about 450,000 refugees would arrive in Germany in 2015. In the whole of 2014, 202,000 foreigners applied for asylum in Germany, notes the Reuters agency.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres promised to support Germany in accepting refugees. 'We must also place responsibility on the shoulders of other European countries,' quotes Guterres the website of the German publication Die Welt. Guterres is confident that in the long term, 'it is unacceptable that only two EU countries – Germany and Sweden,' which have the best infrastructure, 'receive the largest number of refugees.'
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 240,000 people have already arrived on Europe's shores via the Mediterranean Sea. In the first quarter of 2015 alone, 185,000 people applied for asylum in the EU, an increase of 86 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Germany accepted 35 percent of the new arrivals, Sweden 14 percent, Italy and France 11 percent each, and the remaining countries less than 40 percent of the total number of refugees.
According to António Guterres, the 'dramatic humanitarian consequences' of ongoing conflicts should be taken into account. In 2014, 'more people fled than ever since records began.' Currently, more than 60 million people worldwide have left their homes due to conflicts and persecution. Only because of the civil war in Syria, more than 4 million people are seeking refuge in other countries, notes UNHCR.