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Migrant crisis: Germany 'can take 500,000 asylum-seekers a year' Migrant crisis: Germany 'can take 500,000 asylum-seekers a year'
(about 1 hour later)
Germany can cope with at least 500,000 asylum-seekers a year for several years, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has said.Germany can cope with at least 500,000 asylum-seekers a year for several years, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has said.
Officials have said they expect more than 800,000 asylum-seekers in 2015 alone - four times the 2014 figure. Germany expects more than 800,000 asylum-seekers in 2015 alone - four times the 2014 figure.
Mr Gabriel repeated that other European countries should take their fair share. Mr Gabriel reiterated that other EU states should share the burden.
The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, says a record 7,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Macedonia alone on Monday and 30,000 migrants were on Greek islands.The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, says a record 7,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Macedonia alone on Monday and 30,000 migrants were on Greek islands.
The migrant influx has unsettled European governments and prompted diverse responses - Hungary's conservative leadership has been building a border fence to try to keep them out while the German leadership expresses pride in crowds who turned out to welcome them in. The migrant influx has unsettled European governments and prompted diverse responses. Hungary's conservative leadership is building a border fence to try to keep them out, but German politicians have expressed pride in crowds who turned out to welcome new arrivals.
A Greek minister said on Monday that the island of Lesbos, which sits off the Turkish coast, was "on the verge of an explosion" due to a build-up of 20,000 migrants trying to reach the European mainland.A Greek minister said on Monday that the island of Lesbos, which sits off the Turkish coast, was "on the verge of an explosion" due to a build-up of 20,000 migrants trying to reach the European mainland.
The government and UNHCR have brought in extra staff and ships to process the migrants.The government and UNHCR have brought in extra staff and ships to process the migrants.
Further south, the BBC's James Reynolds reports long queues of migrants waiting to pass from Macedonia into Serbia on the border town of Presevo.
Quota proposal
Germany expects some 800,000 migrants this year, but Mr Gabriel said it was prepared for more in the longer term.
"I believe we could certainly deal with something in the order of a half a million for several years," he said in an interview with Germany's public ZDF television.
"I have no doubt about it - maybe even more."
He said that because Germany was economically strong, it could take a disproportionate share, but that other members of the EU must also accept part of the responsibility.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to unveil proposals on Wednesday to distribute 160,000 refugees among member states on a mandatory basis.
The crisis has divided the 28-nation bloc.
Hungary, along with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania, has rejected the idea of quotas - saying they would be futile if the EU's outer borders cannot be defended.
The migrant influx has proved to be a political hot potato in Hungary, with Hungarian Defence Minister Csaba Hende stepping down on Monday in a surprise move thought to be connected with the construction of a border fence. It has so far proved ineffective.
Migrants there have also faced down authorities who have had to abandon attempts to prevent them moving north.
More on the migrant crisis
What next for Germany's asylum seekers?
Peston: Why Germany needs migrants more than UK
What can the EU do to solve the crisis?
Nine key moments in crisis
The other exodus to Germany - people from the Balkans
Meanwhile on the Greek island of Lesbos, a processing centre has been set up on an abandoned football ground to try to clear a backlog of stranded migrants.
Lesbos is attractive to migrants as it is part of the EU nation of Greece which sits just off non-EU Turkey - the two are divided by just 5.5km (3.4 miles) of water.
But correspondents described utterly squalid conditions there, with makeshift camps springing up and migrants sheltering in doorways, alleyways, streets and squares in the main town of Mytiline.
The migrants are mainly Syrian, but a sizeable number also come from Afghanistan.
Little piece of good news - Jonny Dymond, BBC News, Lesbos
It is blazing hot at the Georgios Scufos Training Centre in Mytiline; a queue of hundreds stretches down the hill as Syrian refugees wait for entry, covering their heads with clothing, bags, pieces of cardboard, anything to keep the boiling sun off their heads.
The Hellenic Red Cross has set up a tent where children have taken refuge from the heat. A steady flow of people come in asking for water, which has run out.
Along one side of the former football pitch, plastic tables are staffed by Greek government officials, assisted by volunteer translators. The refugees present their papers and passports - many have wrapped their passports so tightly in plastic that they struggle to get them open.
But once they prove their identity the processing is quick. With government papers in their hands the refugees have what they so long for - the authorisation to buy tickets for the specially chartered boats that will take them to Athens.
Nothing is easy for the refugees in Lesbos - but this hot little patch of land is the first piece of good news they have had for a long time.
On Monday, officials said that the processing centre on Lesbos would operate around the clock for five days to try to clear the backlog of migrants needing papers to move on.
On Monday night, about a dozen coastguards and riot police armed with batons struggled to control some 2,500 migrants surging towards one of three ships ferrying people to Athens, reported AFP news agency.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.