Germany must make one million asylum rulings in 2016 BAMF

Despite lower numbers of migrants arriving in Europe, Germany is still struggling to process migrant cases, said the head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees on Monday (May 9).

Frank-Juergen Weise said he anticipates that “around one million rulings” will be made on asylum-seekers in 2016. He made clear that this did not include any migrants who may still arrive.

Under an accord struck with the European Union, Turkey has agreed to help stem the number of new arrivals by stopping the flow of illegal migrants reaching the continent.

The deal sealed off the main route by which a million migrants crossed the Aegean into Greece last year, but some believe new routes will develop through Bulgaria or Albania as Mediterranean crossings to Italy from Libya resume.

Europe is grappling with its largest migration wave since World War Two, as a traditional flow of migrants from Africa is compounded by refugees fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and South Asia.