Mandatory quotas determining how
many migrants each European Union country should take in are a "first
step", German Chancellor Angela Merkel says.
She was speaking as the EU continues to grapple with a huge influx of migrants, which peaked at the weekend.
The
European Commission is set to announce plans on Wednesday, including
quotas, to distribute 120,000 migrants among member countries.
Germany says it can cope with more in the future but wants the burden shared.
Mrs
Merkel was speaking alongside the visiting Swedish Prime Minister,
Stefan Lofven. Their countries have so far taken in the most asylum
seekers.
Calling the European Commission's proposals "an
important first step", Mrs Merkel added that the EU needed an open-ended
"system to share out those with a right to asylum".
Divisions
Earlier, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Germany could cope with "at least 500,000 asylum seekers a year for several years".
Germany,
which has waived EU rules to welcome thousands of Syrian migrants,
expects more than 800,000 asylum seekers in 2015 alone - four times the
2014 figure.
The quotas issue has exposed deep divisions within the EU.
Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Romania have voiced reservations. The quota system, to be announced by Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker, would allocate 60% of migrants now in
Italy, Greece and Hungary to Germany, France and Spain, reports say.
The
numbers distributed to each country would depend on GDP, population,
unemployment rate and asylum applications already processed, AFP news
agency reports.
Countries refusing to take in migrants could face financial penalties.
The
migrants, mainly Syrians, are engaged in a long trek that takes them
from Turkey, across the sea to Greece, through Macedonia and Serbia, and
then to Hungary from where they aim to reach Austria and Germany. Image copyrightAPWhat next for Germany's asylum seekers? Peston: Why Germany needs migrants more than UK What can the EU do to solve the crisis? Nine key moments in crisis The other exodus to Germany - people from the Balkans Are you affected by the crisis?
The
UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, says a record 7,000 Syrian migrants arrived
in Macedonia alone on Monday and 30,000 were on Greek islands.
The
migrant influx has unsettled European governments and prompted diverse
responses. Hungary's conservative leadership is building a border fence
to try to keep them out, but German politicians have expressed pride in
crowds who welcomed new arrivals.
Media captionJames Reynolds on the Serbia-Macedonia border: ''Hundreds and hundreds of people are waiting to get to the front of the queue''
A
Greek minister said on Monday that the island of Lesbos, which sits off
the Turkish coast, was "on the verge of an explosion" due to a build-up
of 20,000 migrants.
The government and UNHCR have brought in extra staff and ships to process them.
The UNHCR meanwhile highlighted the growing scale of the challenge, releasing new figures that suggest it expects 400,000 migrants to arrive in Europe by sea in 2015.
The
majority are Syrian, and the UN says many are now seeking a better life
in Europe because of poor conditions in refugee camps in Jordan and
Lebanon - caused in part because of a drastic shortfall in multilateral
aid programmes. Image copyrightAPImage caption
More migrants are crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Asylum-seekers arriving in Hungary from Serbia fought to get on a bus to a reception centre
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
This family from Afghanistan is being cared for at a gymnasium in Berlin after their long journey
The UN's special representative for migration, Peter
Sutherland, said several wealthy countries, such as the US and Gulf
states, had in fact been generous in contributing financially to help
improve the lives of Syrians in countries neighbouring Syria.
But this was no substitute for taking migrants in. "Buying your way out of this is not satisfactory," he said. A note on terminology:
The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who
have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group
includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely
to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs
and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic
migrants. Are you in Germany? Are you affected by the issues raised in this story? Let us know about your experiences. Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your stories. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
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