Leaders of Eastern European states opposed to Germany's open-door refugee policy have been quick to tell Germany 'we told you so' after the Cologne sexual assaults.
Federal Police announced on Wednesday that they had arrested record numbers of people entering Germany illegally in 2014, a 75 percent increase on the year before.
A government report shows that over half a million foreigners came to Germany in 2014, pushing the total up to 8.2 million - the highest number since records began.
Germany on Monday said it was open to talks on allowing Romania and Bulgaria into the passport-free Schengen zone,
which has been a delicate subject among European countries.
EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of Bulgarians and Romanians are leaving Germany each month to return home, putting into doubt fears of a mass immigration from eastern Europe to the country.
UPDATE: The EU Commission believes Germany must make it easier for immigrants to claim unemployment benefit, according to reports on Friday. It comes as a poll shows support for the EU is at a record high in Germany.
Germany's cabinet decided on Wednesday to set up a special committee tasked with tackling the potential problem of eastern European immigrants exploiting the benefit system.
Europe's top economy Germany is grappling with how to handle immigration from poor EU members Romania and Bulgaria now that their citizens can seek work anywhere within the bloc.
The debate over Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants arriving in Germany reached a more sinister level on Friday, when one leading Conservative politician called for finger prints to be taken to stop eastern Europeans getting benefits.
Hours before immigration restrictions on people from Romania and Bulgaria coming to Germany are lifted, politicians are arguing over attempts to discourage those with poor work prospects from coming to the country.
Germany's interior minister called on Friday for a tougher approach towards immigrants who appear to be in Germany just for the social support system. It was time, he said, to throw people out.
Germany will veto Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen passport-free zone if the two countries push their membership at an EU meeting this week, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich warned on Sunday.
Germany summoned Romania's ambassador to Chancellor Angela Merkel's office on Thursday, her spokesman said, over fears democracy is under threat in the EU nation amid a constitutional crisis.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich on Wednesday defended a controversial plan to restore border controls in Europe's visa-free Schengen area, saying this will make it easier for Romania and Bulgaria to join.
Germany said Thursday it would continue to oppose Romania and Bulgaria joining Europe's visa-free Schengen zone until the two countries had eliminated concerns about endemic corruption.
A judge has jailed a group of men and women who ran a chain of brothels where more than 200 Romanian women provided ‘flat rate’ sex to customers in circumstances which prosecutors had described as gang-run forced labour.
Romanian-born German author Herta Müller, winner of the 2009 Nobel Literature Prize, has called for an investigation into former spies now living in Germany after it was revealed she was spied on by Romania's secret police, ARD television said late on Monday.
The state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Jürgen Rüttgers, has come under heavy criticism and been forced to apologise for saying that Romanian workers are undisciplined and do not know what they are doing.
