Germany Receives 2,300 Lawsuits Over Protracted Processing of Asylum Claims

Almost 2,300 migrants seeking asylum in Germany have appealed to courts over protracted processing of their applications, local media reported Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Sevim Dagdelen, a member of Germany's Left Party (Die Linke), has requested the number of lawsuits from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), the Thuringer Allgemeine newspaper reported. The majority of appeals to courts have been submitted by Afghans (560), Iraqis (337), Eritreans (217) and Syrians (207).

Dagdelen said the German authorities were responsible for an "unacceptable and illegal" situation with asylum applications' processing and an "organized government failure."

According to the newspaper, the Interior Ministry has said that in 2015 it increased the number of BAMF personnel by 40 percent and opened 20 new offices.

Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Germany, which is known to accept large numbers of refugees, is among the destinations most popular with migrants.

According to the country's Interior Ministry, over 1.1 million refugees arrived in Germany in 2015.