Germany to probe welfare fraud by immigrants

(BERLIN) - The German government said Wednesday it will look into toughening measures against abuse of its welfare system by immigrants in light of fears of an influx from poor EU member states Romania and Bulgaria.

Chancellor Angela Merkel led a cabinet meeting of her new "grand coalition" where the government agreed to task a commission with making recommendations by mid-June.

"It will address the possible consequences of immigration and open borders -- both things the government welcomes and wants," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.

He said the officials would examine whether there was a need for "operative or legal measures" to stop a "possible abuse of welfare benefits".

The announcement came amid a fierce debate in Europe over the potential impact of the lifting of work restrictions for immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria from January 1.

Some of Merkel's conservative allies have recently seized on anxiety over a potential mass invasion of needy newcomers seeking to benefit from the country's relatively generous social welfare system.

As the discussion gathered steam, Merkel and her Social Democrat partners in government agreed to weigh whether to take action to curb so-called "benefits tourism".

Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007, becoming the bloc's poorest members.

Wary of an inundation from the two countries, some EU members kept their job markets closed to Romanian and Bulgarian citizens for several years until this month.

Weeks before the expiration, Britain rushed through measures to require new EU migrants wait for three months before applying for unemployment payments and other benefits.

The German government's announcement came as the federal statistics office Destatis said the country had seen a boost to its population last year due to the biggest influx of immigrants in two decades, mainly from Europe's crisis-hit countries.

The figures showed that the number of people living in Germany had surged to 80.8 million in 2013 from 80.5 million -- the third annual increase in a row.

"Once again, the high level of positive net immigration offset a lack of births," Destatis said in a statement.

It said that the difference between the number of newcomers and those leaving the country was believed to have surpassed 400,000 for the first time in 20 years, due in large part to heavy immigration from the ailing economies of southern and eastern Europe.

In 1993, the figure had reached 462,000.

The number of births in Germany tallied between 675,000 and 695,000 while the number of deaths reached between 885,000 and 905,000, according to the provisional official figures.

Without immigration, the population would have shrunk by more than 200,000.

Merkel has called Germany's rapidly ageing population and low birthrate the biggest long-term challenge facing the country, and acknowledged that more immigration will be crucial to keep Europe's biggest economy humming.