Refugee Crisis Shows Reality of Globalisation, Says Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble

Lima: The influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees into Europe is part of the reality of globalisation, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday.

The German government expects 800,000 or more people to arrive this year and media say it could be up to 1.5 million.

German authorities are struggling to cope with the roughly 10,000 refugees arriving every day, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East.

But Schaeuble, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Peru, said the influx was part of the reality of globalisation.

IMF meetings tried to organise the forces of globalisation "such that everyone can live with them," Schaeuble said.

"In a way, with the refugee crisis we are now seeing in Germany and in Europe a meeting with the realities of globalisation," he added.

The crisis concerns many people in Germany, where support for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has slipped to its lowest since May on worries about the refugee influx.