Asylum applications to Germany up by 61 percent this year
Thu Jun 12, 2014 5:08pm GMT
(Adds Germany agreeing to take in more Syrian refugees)
BERLIN, June 12 (Reuters) - Refugees from Syria's civil war drove a 61
percent annual increase in the number of people seeking asylum in Germany
between January and May, Interior Ministry figures showed on Thursday.
The data showing a rise in asylum applications to 62,602 in the first five
months of the year comes as authorities debate how to ease Germany's
immigration burden.
The number of asylum seekers from Syria more than doubled to 10,046 in
January-May from 4,035 in the same period last year. Other applicants' main
countries of origin were Serbia, Afghanistan, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia,
Eritrea, Russia, Somalia and Kosovo.
The trend shows no signs of abating, with the number of asylum applications
rising 49 percent in May compared with the same month last year to 12,457.
Interior ministers from the German government and the federal states agreed
on Thursday to take in an extra 10,000 refugees from Syria, where
anti-government protests in 2011 escalated into a civil war. That will
increase the total number Germany has agreed to receive to 20,000.
"Germany takes its humanitarian responsibility seriously so it's right that
together we'll provide more help," German Interior Minister Thomas de
Maiziere said.
The German parliament is debating a draft law proposed by the ruling
coalition which would class Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia as safe countries
of origin, meaning citizens of these countries would no longer have the
right to asylum. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Stephen Brown and
Janet Lawrence)