And until Dr Merkel brings some clarity to this, it is in the interest of the other countries through which migrants pass to continue pushing them towards Germany, thereby perpetuating the flow.
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The number of people thought to have fled conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa to seek sanctuary in the European Union so far this year.
“A lot of false information is circulating about the options to obtain asylum in Germany, which we can not leave unchallenged”, he said as his ministry has launched information campaigns on media and in social networks.
Setting up of registration centres at the external borders of the EU will help the authorities to identify those refugees who have a chance for asylum in the EU and to deport the others even before entering the EU, he said.
The top German official responsible for the government’s open-door refugee policy stepped down amid criticism that his office exacerbated the region’s growing crisis, with Croatia becoming the latest flash point as migrants flooded into the country after being blocked by Hungary.
The number of refugees streaming into this country rose sharply since the Balkans route became a relatively safer alternative for the migrants to reach Europe compared to the risky journey through the Mediterranean, often in overcrowded and unseaworthy boats.
European countries are deeply divided over the refugee crisis.
Another Luxembourg source said the word “mandatory” will not appear in the draft document that will go before the ministers when they meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss how many refugees each country will take.
The same meeting also provisionally agreed to provide more money to help refugees in frontline states such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan – the idea being that fewer will then come to the EU.
The migrant influx into southern Germany slowed to about 7,000 irregular entries at the weekend, after two weekends that each saw 20,000 arrive, police said on Monday.
Championed by Germany, which is bearing the brunt of the migrant crisis, the new plan would distribute asylum seekers proportionately across states.
The United States said it would take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the fiscal year that begins in October.
A total of 213,200 first time asylum seekers applied for protection in the European Union between April and June, 15 per cent more than in the previous three months and 85 per cent more than the same period past year.
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It’s not yet clear how many of these 1 million people – many of them already in Germany – will be granted permanent admission and official status there.
