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The number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany dropped dramatically in 2017, down more than 100,000 since 2016, as the migration into Western Europe finally seems to decline.

The German governing parties currently in coalition talks were eager to present the numbers to the public, with Interior Minister Thomas De Maziere saying: "The crisis of the extremely high figure of 2015 and 2016 has been overcome."

"The BAMF (the Office of Migrants and Refugee) is no longer is occupied with trying to master the crisis."

At the same time, Mr De Maziere admitted that refugees, particularly from the Middle East and Afghanistan, arriving in Europe remained a problem the member states had to deal with.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Crime increase by migrants in Berlin from 2015-2016:<br>Violent crimes increased by 94,7% from 1335 to 2599.<br>Sex crimes increased by 95,8% from 72 to 141. <a href="https://t.co/qW7FGOHd0i">pic.twitter.com/qW7FGOHd0i</a></p>— Stan (@StanM3) <a href="https://twitter.com/StanM3/status/953032614046257153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, victorious at the last election, was quick to point out that all is not as rosy as the picture painted by the government, claiming the Interior Ministry's numbers didn't reflect the reality in small German towns.

Mr Armin-Paul Hampel, a member of parliament for the AfD, said: "Those may be the official figures but we continue to have open borders."

"Since 2015 people have been able to come here whether they have passports or not. I wish I knew the true number of people who come to our country. They don't all report to the immigration office."

The news will be welcomed by Ms Angela Merkel’s CDU conservative party, as they lessen the pressure to the right in order for her to be able to conclude the coalition talks with the social democrats.

Germany is clearly in urgent need of a government, having never in the last three decades been without one for several months as is now the case. Just today, the car sector went on strike, demanding higher pay and a reduction of working hours.

Source:

http://www.dw.com/en/refugee-numbers-in-germany-dropped-dramatically-in-2017/a-42162223