Wolfgang Schaeuble Says Berlin Accepting Thousands of Refugees in 2015 Wrong

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called Germany's refugee policy in 2015, allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees to enter country "mistake" and stated that the social standards in Germany were much higher than in most European countries, which was why so many refugees fled to the country.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the country's refugee policy in 2015, allowing hundreds of thousands of refugees to enter Germany, was wrong, in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.

"We tried to improve many things of what went out of control in 2015… We, politicians, are people and we make mistakes. But at least one can learn from mistakes," Schaeuble said, as quoted by the newspaper.

Schaeuble noted that the social standards in Germany were much higher than in most European countries, which was why so many refugees fled to the country.

Germany has been the key destination for thousands of refugees and immigrants coming to Europe since the start of 2015. Some 280,000 refugees came to Germany in 2016, compared to 890,000 arrivals in the previous year, according to the German Interior Ministry. The majority of the asylum seekers are from Syria and Afghanistan.