LONDON — The European Union predicted Thursday that up to 3 million additional asylum seekers could enter the 28-member bloc by the end of next year, suggesting the staggering pace of new arrivals in recent months shows no sign of abating.
The forecast, buried in a 204-page report on the future of the European economy, will add to an already burning debate in Europe about whether the continent can handle the influx, which has broken all modern records.
So far this year, more than 760,000 people have entered the continent seeking refuge or jobs, according to the U.N.’s refugee agency. The new arrivals have badly strained government resources in countries all along the trail, which leads from the Mediterranean Sea in the south to richer nations in Europe’s north.
One of the more affluent countries, Sweden, said Thursday that it would apply for emergency E.U. aid, an admission that it is failing to cope. Sweden, which has taken the largest per capita share of refugees of any E.U. country, is expecting 190,000 asylum seekers this year — double its previous record.
“The major problem today is that the number of asylum seekers is growing faster than we can arrange for accommodation,” Morgan Johansson, the minister for justice and migration, told reporters. “Sweden can no longer guarantee accommodation to everyone who comes. Those who are arriving could be met with the news that there isn’t anywhere to stay.”
The Swedish Migration Agency said it would house 50 migrants in its headquarters, having run out of space in hotels, apartment buildings, tents, old army barracks and converted prisons.
