EU Refugee Crisis 2016: 10 Million More Asylum Seekers Heading To Europe, German Official Warns

The massive surge of refugees in Europe hailing from the Middle East and Africa has barely scratched the surface for the number of asylum seekers who will come to the continent, a German politician warned Monday, the Express reported. It is the European Union's fault that as many as 10 million more will come to Europe because its countries' borders have not been regulated, the German development minister said, pointing in part to the areas in Europe that do not require any documentation for people to freely pass through.

“The protection of external borders is not working. Schengen [abolishment of border controls] has collapsed. A fair distribution of refugees has not taken place," said Gerd Müller, who acknowledged that refugees are "fleeing hunger, misery, violence, and they see no future for themselves and their families." However, he added: "But we live in a globalized world. We can not build fences around Germany and Europe. When people suffer, they will come."

Müller's words follow dozens of violent attacks on New Year's Eve targeting women in Cologne, Germany, that were reportedly launched by Syrian and Pakistani refugees in the country who had been granted legal asylum.

The incidents resulted in more than 100 women filing charges of sexual molestation, robbery and rape. Some of the suspects are refugees, police have said. Germany took in more than 1 million migrants and refugees in 2015.

A right-wing political movement in Germany held an anti-refugee protest this past weekend in Cologne to demand further legal action for the sex attacks, the BBC reported. The demonstration, during which thousands of participants largely condemned Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy on accepting refugees into the country, resulted in the deployment of hundreds of riot police and the use of a water cannon to disperse members of the anti-Islam Pegida movement.

The number of refugees coming to Germany has just begun, Müller warned. "Only 10 percent of the triggered in Syria and Iraq escape shaft has reached us," he said, the Daily Mail reported. "Eight to 10 million is still on its way. Those who come to us now, for several years sat in the tent cities, basements or goat stables without water and electricity. It is shameful that the international community is not able to ensure the survival on the spot."