The number of people seeking asylum in Germany is predicted to soar to 750,000 this year according to reports, amid warnings by the United Nations that it and Sweden are unfairly bearing the brunt of Europe’s refugee burden.



Government sources told the business daily Handelsblatt the figures, which are due to be released by the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, on Wednesday, are far higher than previously expected.

The leak came as the EU’s border agency, Frontex, said 107,500 migrants were detected at its frontiers last month, three times as many as in July 2014.

The swift increase in numbers to Germany, which has already received twice as many people in 2015 than it did last year – and many more than the 300,000 predicted at the start of this year – has taken Europe’s largest economy by surprise and left many towns and cities struggling to find adequate ways in which to feed and house the new arrivals.

From abandoned army barracks to the metal container “villages” that have been erected overnight everywhere from car parks to cemeteries, every available space is being utilised. In some places, refugees have been forced to sleep in the open air. Tent cities have sprung up in many communities, while school buildings and sports halls have also been commandeered. But with schools due to return soon and winter approaching, local authorities have been scrambling to find alternative arrangements, emphasising the exceptional nature of the challenge.

State administrations have also been calling for more federal aid to cope with demand and are largely dependent on volunteers.

The increase in refugees has been accompanied by a rise in racist crimes, especially in eastern Germany, with more than 200 incidents reported, including arson attacks and firebombings on migrants’ homes. On Sunday, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the asylum crisis was even overshadowing the Greek crisis.

António Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, called for greater solidarity among EU members and urged more countries to take in those fleeing war and persecution.

He said in an interview with newspaper Die Welt: “It is unsustainable in the long-run that only two EU countries – Germany and Sweden – take in the majority of refugees. All countries in Europe have the moral responsibility to welcome them and the clear legal obligation to protect them.”

Gerd Müller, the German development minister, called on Tuesday for the EU to appoint a European refugees commissioner and said it had to treat the problem with more urgency.

Sweden is bearing even more of the burden than Germany when measured according to population size. It received 81,300 asylum applications last year.

Thomas Oppermann, the chairman of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic party – the junior coalition partner to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union – said that while he had not seen the latest figures, he believed the number could climb to 800,000 based on the information he had.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, he said: “There has been a huge increase, not only in Europe, but in the whole of Germany. It would appear they’re no longer coming so much via the Mediterranean, but via the Balkans and Turkey. It’s our humanitarian duty to take them in, but we need to concentrate on those that need us most.”

Oppermann stressed that the refugees from Syria, Eritrea and Sudan were the most in need, and urged de Maizière to accelerate the decision-making process as to who is deserving of asylum. Almost half of the refugees have arrived from the Balkans, which is not considered an endangered region.

He suggested the situation was now so urgent and overwhelming, it had been necessary to bring civil servants out of retirement to help with the asylum process. Customs officials from the finance ministry have already been seconded to the national office for migration and refugees to help wade through a backlog of applications.

Oppermann said: “We should be reactivating pensioners who could earn some money by helping out to speed things up. We need unconventional measures in order to accommodate the refugees ... after all, we’re a rich country and we need to be in a situation where we can take in 500,000 or 750,000 people ... we need to knuckle down now.”