MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Germany and Europe as a whole need new migrant crisis response measures amid a sharp increase in the number of refugees, which is expected to reach 800,000 in Germany by the end of this year, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told Euronews.
"That’s [the number of migrants] four times more than last year. And that’s around 43 percent of all of Europe’s asylum seekers. This is a major challenge — even for a well-organized and rich country like Germany. We need to take national measures, but also measures across Europe," de Maiziere stressed on Friday.
According to the minister, over 80,000 refugees came to Germany in July with the number of arriving migrants expected to range between 90,000 and 100,000 this month. De Maizeire pointed out that a distinction must be made between those who are truly in need and those who do not need protection.
"Regarding the national measures, we are facing a great challenge, which is providing decent accommodation. That is to say, getting refugees out of tents and finding them a roof as we get closer to winter. We will speed up the process," the minister said, adding however that "even a very rich country like Germany could have difficulties coping with such a large influx."
On Wednesday, the European Commission earmarked €1.5 million (almost $1.7 million at the current exchange rate) in humanitarian aid to refugees in Serbia and Macedonia, while Germany allocated a separate 1 million euro in humanitarian assistance for the two Balkan nations.
The majority of migrants entering Europe come from crisis-torn countries in North Africa and the Middle East, where radical Islamist groups, such as ISIL have been on the rise.
Germany's foreign and interior ministries have proposed reducing the number of asylum applications to Western Balkan citizens on grounds that they do not originate in regions of warfare.
