refugee migrant
© AFP 2016/ TT NEWS AGENCY / STIG-AKE JONSSON
The situation with the refugee influx in Europe can reach catastrophic levels in the summer, as some two million people could claim asylum in the continent this year, a French lawmaker said Monday.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa for Europe.

"This year my forecast is 1.5-2 million [refugees]. I am afraid it will come true," Thierry Mariani told the Ogoniok magazine.

According to the lawmaker, even though it is currently winter and it could be expected that the refugee flows would wane, they still continue arriving.

"I think we can expect a catastrophe this summer," Mariani said, adding that the reason for crisis was lack of a "single constructed policy" on the issue in the European Union.

Over 1.83 million illegal border crossings were detected by the EU border agency Frontex in 2015.