Willkommen: Germany’s Policy on Migrants
The vice chancellor says the country can take in half a million asylum-seekers a year for the next several years.

“I believe we could certainly deal with something in the order of a half a million for several years,” Sigmar Gabriel, the vice chancellor, told ZDF television. “I have no doubt about it—maybe even more.”
Gabriel’s remarks come as Europe is facing its most severe migrant crisis since World War II. His country is already taking in more migrants than any other in the 28-member European Union. This year alone, it is accepting 800,000—four times the number it took in 2014.
The European Commission will propose national quotas to relocate 160,000 asylum-seekers arriving in Greece, Hungary and Italy, with Germany taking in more than 40,000 and France nearly 31,000. Countries that do not want to take part would be able to make financial contributions to buy their way out of the obligation on a temporary basis.