Germany has “reached the limit” on the number of migrants the country can accept, the country’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has warned.
Steinmeier said the fact that a third of all migrants who reached the EU in the first six months of this year came via Germany primarily means that the country, “like Italy, is at the limit of its capabilities.”
His warning comes seven years after Steinmeier called for “open borders”, with a million people entering Germany in 2015 and 2016.
Steinmeier, who is on a three-day visit to Italy, has now made an about-face, insisting on the need for “stronger controls” at borders and a “fair distribution” of migrants in Europe.
He said Germany now faces an “emergency situation” due to the sheer volume of migrants traveling from Syria and Afghanistan to the country’s eastern border.
Suspected illegal migrants sit on the ground after being stopped by German police on Wednesday while patrolling the German-Polish border in Forst, Germany
Germany has “reached the limit” on the number of migrants the country can accept, the country’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has warned.
“In the first six months of this year we had 162,000 asylum applications, a third of all applications in the EU,” Steinmeier told the Italian newspaper. Corriere della Seraadding that this is up by more than 75 percent on the same period last year.
‘Moreover, there are currently over a million refugees in our country. This is why Germany, like Italy, is at the limit of its capabilities.”
Steinmeier, who will be accompanied on his visit by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, added: “We need fair distribution in Europe and stronger controls and surveillance at our external borders.”
More than 130,000 people have landed on Italian coasts since the start of this year, compared to around 68,200 in the same period last year, according to the Interior Ministry.
About 8,500 migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in just three days last week, as the number of people crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa increased.
Germany also faces “heavy immigration,” Steinmeier said, calling for “humane and sustainable European solutions.”
“We must do everything we can to make freight sustainable and reduce arrivals,” he added. Although German President Steinmeier has no policy-making power, his office does have considerable influence.
It comes amid growing fears that foreign political conflicts are being brought to Germany.
Last weekend, an Eritrean culture festival in Stuttgart descended into violent chaos as hostile gangs attacked each other and police with rocks, bottles and wooden planks.
The clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of the Eritrean government as about 200 protesters gathered outside the festival in the southwestern German city.
As the violence flared, dozens of people were injured, including at least 26 police officers. One resident described the scene as “like a war.”
A wrecked car was also seen pushing its way through the clashing groups as police were attacked in Stuttgart this weekend
The clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of the Eritrean government as around 200 protesters gathered outside the festival in the southwestern German city
Images circulating on social media showed the unrest as attackers ran in groups and broke out in massive street fights. A car with a broken windscreen was also seen pushing its way through the clashing groups as police came under attack.
The weekend’s event in Stuttgart was reportedly organized by groups close to the totalitarian dictatorship of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.
Six of the 26 injured police officers were treated at a hospital for their injuries, police said.
Police said four event participants and two protesters were also injured, although no information was immediately available on the severity of their injuries.
“It looked like a war here,” said one resident Image after fearing mass brawls. ‘Men threw stones at the police officers from a schoolyard next to us. A police helicopter was present. It was so hectic. I thought there would be shooting soon,” they said.
Saturday’s protests were the latest in a series of unrest surrounding Eritrean cultural events in Germany and elsewhere. In July, 22 police officers were injured in a clash at an Eritrean festival in the western German city of Giessen.
It comes as Berlin last week revealed it would stop accepting migrants living in Italy under a European solidarity plan.
The voluntary scheme aims to ease pressure on EU border countries, which are often the first port of call for migrants.
Germany said it could resume hosting migrants if Italy resumed its obligations to take back refugees.
Under the EU’s Dublin procedure, irregular migrants must be registered in the EU country they first enter. If they go to another country in the bloc, they can be returned to their first port of call in the EU.
Local governments have become frustrated with the federal government of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as they are left footing the bill for the rising costs of housing, schools and services for a growing number of migrants.
In addition to the more than 1 million Ukrainians who came to Germany last year to seek shelter from the Russian war against their country, the number of asylum seekers has also risen sharply. Ukrainians are immediately given refugee status in Germany and do not have to apply for asylum.
More than 244,000 people applied for asylum in Germany in 2022, but this figure increased by 78 percent in the first six months of this year alone. Experts estimate that up to 300,000 migrants could apply for asylum in Germany this year.
Many of those who now arrive in Germany every day travel across the Balkans and come from war-ravaged countries such as Syria or Afghanistan. They depend on smugglers to take them across the border so that they can apply for asylum once they arrive on German soil.
Local communities have been housing asylum seekers for months in tents, containers, gyms or former airports as regular housing becomes scarce. In addition, they say there is also a lack of kindergarten and school spaces for migrant children. They are demanding billions in additional federal funds to cover their costs.
However, the national government rejects their demands and says it spent 28 billion euros on migration last year alone. About 15 billion euros were provided to states and local authorities, while more than 12 billion euros were invested in combating the causes of flights abroad.