Asylum applications registered in the countries of the European Union (EU), Norway and Switzerland increased by 28% in the first half of 2023, compared to the same period last year, the EU announced on Tuesday.
Between January and the end of June, some 519,000 asylum applications were submitted in the 29 countries, indicated the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), estimating that, “according to current trends, applications may exceed one million by the end of the year “. .
Syrians, Afghans, Venezuelans, Turks and Colombians are the main applicants, corresponding to 44% of the applications.
Orders reached the highest level during the first half since 2015-2016.
In 2015-2016, during a wave of refugees arriving in Europe, in particular due to the stalemate in the civil war in Syria, the number of asylum applications reached 1.3 million in 2015 and 1.2 million in 2016. In 2022 , Europe registered 994,945 applications.
Germany is the country that received the most orders: 30% of the total, almost double that of Spain (17%) and France (16%).
The report revealed that Portugal received 2,115 applications, the highest number ever recorded in the first half of a year.
The EUAA highlighted that, due to this increase, many European countries “are under pressure to meet the requests” and that the number of cases pending a decision increased by 34% compared to 2022.
About 41% of the requests received a positive response in the first instance.
In addition, around four million Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion currently enjoy temporary protection in the EU, the agency stressed.
Source: TSF
