Up to 750000 refugees could seek asylum in Germany in 2015

Germany’s latest projected figures were due to be confirmed by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Wednesday and Handelsblatt reported that the number of refugees seeking accommodation around the country was surging.

Merkel has said other EU nations must do more, and tried to allay fears that migrants will cost taxpayers money and take their jobs.

But that plan has also led to attacks against asylum seekers by “Germans troubled by the prospect of having to compete with refugees for state resources”, writes The Christian Science Monitor’s Chris Cottrell.

Last month, EU member states agreed to take in 32,000 asylum seekers arriving in Italy and Greece over the next two years – fewer than the 40,000 target.

Germany is the biggest recipient of asylum seekers in the European Union, which has been overwhelmed by refugees fleeing war and poverty in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Eritrea. As communities run out of housing options for asylum seekers waiting for their applications to be processed, many have resorted to keeping them in tents and military barracks.

Sweden recorded the next biggest number of asylum applications in the EU in 2014 – 13 percent, although as a proportion in relation to its population size, the country is shouldering the biggest burden in the bloc.

“In the long term, it is not sustainable for only two EU countries-Germany and Sweden-to take in the majority of refugees with efficient asylum structures”.

On Tuesday, the finance ministry sent 50 custom officials to migration and refugees ministry for six months to help with the backlog.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has called on more countries across the continent to share the burden of the increased number of refugees.

Both Ms Merkel and President Joachim Gauck have urged Germans to shun intolerance and hostility towards foreigners entering their countries.

In the past months, Germany has seen a number of attacks on refugee homes apparently motivated by xenophobia.

BERLIN – Germany expects up to 750,000 people to seek asylum this year, a business daily cited government sources as saying, up from a previous estimate of 450,000, as some cities say they already can not cope and hostility towards migrants surges in some areas.