The European Union is steeling itself for the arrival of more than 3 million more refugees by the end of 2016, the European Commission revealed, saying the influx is equivalent to the population of Madrid, the capital of Spain.
So far this year, some 700,000 people have come to Europe in the hope of asylum and work, inundating refugee centers and border controls across the continent.
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According to the Commission (EC), “overall, an additional 3 million persons is assumed to arrive in the EU over the forecast period,” statistics that are not expected to slow down by 2017.
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Children’s aid agency UNICEF estimated that 700 minors are seeking asylum in Europe each day, many of these unaccompanied.
The United Kingdom has come under fire for its pledge to take just 4,000 refugees per year from camps near Syria, and will not accept refugees who are already in Europe.
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In 2015 alone, 762,203 refugees, mainly from Syria, have crossed the Mediterranean by boat to Europe.
On Wednesday, six Syrian and Iraqi families became the first refugees to leave Greece Wednesday as part of a European Union relocation program, numbers that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cautioned were a “drop in the ocean.”
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