Germany could take up to 500,000 asylum-seekers a year for the next few years, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has said.

In an interview with ZDF, Gabriel said that Germany was an “economically strong country” and that German public need not worry about tax increases or benefit cuts because of the high number of refugees reaching the country – a number that is expected to reach 800,000 by the end of the year.

However, the vice chancellor went on to say that other European nations should share responsibility for the refugees reaching Europe.

According to the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, 7,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Macedonia on Monday, and the Greek islands off the Turkish coast currently hold around 30,000. Germany expects to welcome around 10,000 today.

Gabriel’s comments come after British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the UK’s plans to accept 20,000 refugees over five years. The refugees welcomed to Britain under the scheme would be taken from refugee camps on the Syrian border and would not include any from the hundreds of thousands currently seeking refuge in Europe.