Some 1,900 Refugees Arrive in Belgium Within Week

Theo Francken, the Belgium's secretary of state for asylum and migration, said that Belgium might follow Germany’s lead and implement border controls if unchecked refugee migration flows across Europe and into the country continued unabated.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Approximately 1,900 refugees arrived in Belgium in a week, a 25-percent rise in the number of migrants in comparison with the previous week, the secretary of state for asylum and migration said Saturday.

According to Theo Francken, the number of refugees from Syria has doubled over the past three weeks, reaching 342.

Belgian authorities are deeply concerned with the massive influx of asylum-seekers from the Middle East and Africa. According to the official statistics, between 4,000 and 5,000 refugees per month are asking for asylum in the country.

Earlier in the week, Francken said that Belgium might follow Germany’s lead and implement border controls if unchecked refugee migration flows across Europe and into the country continued unabated.

Several EU states, including Germany and Austria, have reinstated border controls in the course of the week, with many other bloc members sending reinforcement to their frontiers.

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, arrive in the European Union, fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries.

Over 500,000 migrants have arrived in the European Union since the beginning of 2015, according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.