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  Germany expects 3,00,000 refugees in 2016

Germany expects 3,00,000 refugees in 2016

AFP/REUTERS
Published : Aug 29, 2016, 6:54 am IST
Updated : Aug 29, 2016, 6:54 am IST

Germany expects up to 300,000 asylum seekers to arrive in 2016, less than one-third of the total during 2015’s record influx, the Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (BAMF) said on Sunday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (Photo: AFP/File)
 German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (Photo: AFP/File)

Germany expects up to 300,000 asylum seekers to arrive in 2016, less than one-third of the total during 2015’s record influx, the Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (BAMF) said on Sunday.

BAMF chief Frank-Juergen Weise told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that Germany’s healthy economy and improvements to refugee services over the last year meant that the country was well-placed to absorb new arrivals, particularly as their numbers have dropped off.

“We are preparing for between 250,000 and 300,000 refugees this year,” he said.

“We can ensure optimal services for up to 300,000. should more people arrive, it would put us under pressure, then we would go into so-called crisis mode. But even then we would not have conditions like last year.” Nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany, Europe’s top economic power last year, putting enormous strain on the country’s bureaucracy to process claims and testing confidence in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s right-left coalition government.

The closure of the so-called Balkan migrant trail and a controversial European Union deal with Turkey to keep migrants from reaching Greece has driven down arrivals from the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Mr Weise said his agency made major strides in working through a large backlog in asylum claims but that it would not manage to clear the remaining 530,000 cases by the year end.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's domestic popularity has declined, a poll showed on Sunday, with 50 per cent of Germans against her serving a fourth term in office after a federal election next year. Many violent attacks on civilians in July, two of which were claimed by Islamic State, have focused attention on Merkel's open-door migrant policy.

Half of the 501 people questioned in the Emnid poll for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper were against Merkel staying in office beyond after the 2017 election, with 42 per cent wanting her to remain.

Location: Germany, Berliini, Berlin