EU leaders insist there is 'NO LINK' between the migrant crisis and New Year sex attacks in Cologne - and vow to bring about an end to 'false accusations'
- European Commission wants to 'unconditionally reject' link, minutes show
- Officials are also growing concerned about possibility of a public backlash
- Hundreds of women filed sexual assault complaints after wave of attacks
- Internal minutes were taken at a cabinet meeting for officials on January 13
There is 'no link' between the migrant crisis and the wave of sex attacks in Cologne during New Year celebrations, EU officials believe.
The European Commission wants to remove 'false associations' between the increasing number of some criminal acts and the arrival of migrants, documents show.
Internal minutes taken at a cabinet meeting on January 13 suggest officials are also growing concerned about the possibility of a public backlash in relation to the attacks.
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There is 'no link' between the migrant crisis and the wave of sex attacks in Cologne during New Year celebrations, EU officials believe. Above, fireworks were thrown into the New Year's crowd outside Cologne's main station, prompting members of the public to flee
They document the first vice president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, stating that the two events are 'not related', according to Matthew Holehouse for The Telegraph.
Minutes state: 'As far as the crimes in Cologne were concerned, he [Timmermans] said that these were a matter of public order and were not related to the refugee crisis.'
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They also suggest officials want 'the unconditional rejection of false associations between certain criminal acts, such as the attacks on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve, and the mass influx of refugees'.
But the officials simultaneously do not want to 'downplay' the problems.
A large group gathers outside Cologne train station six days after the attacks. The European Commission wants to remove 'false associations' between the increasing number of some criminal acts and the arrival of migrants, documents show
The attacks prompted a protest by hundreds of people, who waved German flags and carried banners with the slogan 'Rapefugees Not Welcome'
President Jean-Claude Juncker ended the debate and stressed he wanted to maintain the 'credibility of the Commission', the minutes reveal.
Hundreds of women filed sexual assault complaints after the wave of attacks in the German city on New Year's Eve.
A mob of men - believed to be of North African and Arab origin - were said to have molested and robbed women after congregating at the city's central station.
One woman told police she was surrounded by 20 men of North African appearance before they attacked her intimate parts while another said she was pinched in the crotch.
Volunteers pull a raft packed with refugees and migrants as they arrive on a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday. Around 1 million refugees are thought to have now entered Europe illegally
The exposure of the minutes by The Telegraph comes after Swedish police revealed they have dealt with around 5,000 incidents involving migrants since October.
Two bomb threats, four rapes and more than 550 assaults were among the reported offences officers were called to, according to data obtained by SvD.
They also attended 450 fights, 194 violent threats and 58 fires involving migrants or asylum seekers.
It also comes after 22-year-old aid worker Alexandra Mezher was knifed to death at the child migrant centre where she worked in Molndal, Sweden, on Monday.
A 15-year-old boy from Somalia appeared in court on Wednesday charged with murder.
Around 1 million refugees are now thought to have entered Europe illegally.
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