German Vice Chancellor Urges EU to Redistribute Refugees Fairly

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel says migrants should be redistributed within the European Union fairly adding that while Germany faces an increasing number of asylum applications, some EU states receive very few refugees.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Migrants should be redistributed within the European Union fairly, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said, adding that while Germany faces an increasing number of asylum applications, some EU states receive very few refugees.

"Germany, Sweden and Austria receive most of the refugees. By contrast, there are states that receive no or very few refugees. But we need a fair balancing," Gabriel told the Bild newspaper in an interview on Sunday.

In 2014, an estimated 200,000 migrants submitted asylum applications in Germany, with the figure expected to more than double in 2015.

According to recent European Commission data, Germany received almost 40 percent of the total 185,000 asylum applications in Europe during the first quarter of 2015, surpassing Italy, France, and Hungary.

In late July, EU member states agreed to redistribute some 55,000 asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa, in an attempt to resolve the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, some 225,000 refugees have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe within the first seven months of 2015.