2015-10-06 09:30:00

German government plays down reported 1.5m refugees


(Vatican Radio) The German government has played down reports that the country could receive as many as 1.5 million asylum seekers this year alone. The confusion comes as thousands of refugees continue to stream into European Union member state Croatia from where they eventually hope to reach wealthier Western nations such as Germany.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

Bild, Germany's top selling newspaper, said it had obtained a confidential document containing estimates on the expected influx of refugees that are far higher than publicly released official figures. 

It quoted the document as saying that Germany could receive up to 1.5 million asylum-seekers this year alone. Authorities have so far predicted that Europe's top economy would record between 800,000 and 1 million new arrivals in 2015.

Down playing report

Deputy government spokesperson Georg Streiter tried to play down the report citing the confidential document. "As I said, nobody knows this document. I don't know it and I don't know anybody in the federal government who knows it. So I would not rate it so highly," he told reporters.  

Yet, several officials and other Germans have expressed doubt about the government figures on refugees as thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty continue to move towards Western Europe.

Many arrive in Croatia after neighboring Hungary began building controversial anti-migration fences along its borders. Most are from countries such as wartorn Syria and Iraq.

Among them a young man from Iraq who says he fled because of gains made by the so-called Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. “You know, ISIS take everything. Also, [they] take my brother, they kidnapped him. He has been missing for a year and four months,” he said while waiting in a Croatian transit camp. 

Large families expected

Many refugees try to reach wealthier Germany where authorities have set up reception centers.  German newspaper Bild claimed that each asylum-seeker who successfully obtained refugee status could bring on average "four to eight" family members to Germany.

Bild said that based on a preliminary forecast of 920,000 migrants, over "7.3 million people" could therefore have the right to move to Germany due to family ties.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been praised worldwide for her decision to open Germany's doors to refugees fleeing war and misery.

But within Germany, opinion polls suggest that her popularity is starting to wane as local authorities struggle to cope with the massive task of hosting the record surge in refugees, Europe's largest since World War Two.








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