91,000 Refugees Enter Germany in One Month

The high number of refugees entering Germany continues despite the winter cold and the increasingly difficult conditions for accepting refugees in the country, with over 90,000 refugees having entered in the past month. The German Ministry of the Interior announced that 91,671 refugees applied for asylum in January, the first month of 2016. Although this figure is lower than the 127,320 who entered Germany in December, the last month of 2015, the high number of newcomers, despite the adverse weather, continues to put pressure on the government. According to the Associated Press, the largest number of refugees in January were still Syrians, who made up 35,822 of the total newcomers. Following them were Iraqis and Afghans, each with over 18,000 applicants, while Iranians and Moroccans had significantly fewer. Germany, with a population of about 80 million, has been more welcoming to migrants and refugees than any other European country, with nearly 1.1 million entering last year alone. Following the sudden influx of migrants and refugees to Northern Europe in the last months of the previous year, Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, opened the country's borders to hundreds of thousands of them, especially Syrian refugees; however, this policy faced opposition from rival right-wing parties and protests against the entry of migrants. Merkel's government then announced that it would tighten measures for accepting migrants and refugees, and she stated last week that her government views Syrian and Iraqi refugees as temporary migrants, expecting them to return to their countries after the war in Syria ends and the defeat of the 'Islamic State' group. Nevertheless, the Chancellor continues to oppose pressure from opponents who demand a cap on refugee admissions, although her cabinet approved new measures on Tuesday, including processing asylum applications in special rapid review centers to quickly clarify the status of applicants who do not meet regulations. The German government also intends to declare Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia as safe countries to facilitate the return of migrants and refugees from these countries, similar to the approach taken last year regarding several countries in the Balkan region. Meanwhile, according to a survey by the ARD television network in Germany, published on Wednesday, 81% of respondents said that the government has lost control over the situation regarding migrants and refugees. Based on this survey, 61% expressed dissatisfaction with the management of the situation, while 46% were satisfied. The results of this survey indicate a 12% decrease in satisfaction with the government on this issue compared to the previous month. This telephone survey was conducted with 1,004 people.