In the midst of the negotiations of the Migration Pact under the Spanish presidency of the EU, the European Agency for Asylum published yesterday that the Twenty-seven, along with Norway and Switzerland, have received more than half a million requests in the first six months of 2023 asylum, the highest number since the so-called refugee crisis in 2015 and 2016.
In total, applications amounted to 519,000, an increase of 28% compared to the same period of the previous year. The largest number was registered in Germany, 30%, followed by Spain (17%) and France (16%). According to the agency’s calculations, there could be more than a million applications, as it was seven years ago, if one takes into account that at the end of June more than 600,000 applications were still pending approval.
The nationality with the most requests is Syrian, with 67,000 applicants, 13% of the total. More than ten years after the Arab spring broke out in the country and a civil war that has bled the country dry, it has remained the main place for people fleeing to Europe for years. Even so, it has increased by 47% compared to last year: the situation in Syria has worsened due to economic issues (as well as humanitarian and political ones) and there is hostility towards Syrians in neighboring countries, such as Turkey.
Of the Syrians, more than half requested asylum in Germany (62% of the total), as was the case between 2015 and 2016, followed by Austria (10%) and Bulgaria (6%), the latter country often It is not the final destination for many of these people, but it is one of those that make up the Western Balkans route and that goes to the center of Europe, through which thousands of people cross to reach other European states.
Afghanistan, with 55,000 applications, is the second nationality of the vast majority of asylum seekers. The return of the Taliban to power has caused a large increase in people fleeing an isolated country, with a galloping economic crisis that practically must survive through international aid, with a serious setback in Human Rights, especially for the women and ethnic minorities.
A trend that continues in 2023, as in previous years, is the increase in applications from Venezuelans and Colombians, with 13% of the total of all those produced in the EU. This is an increase of 41% and 73%, respectively. “The vast majority of these requests present a singularity and that is that they occurred in a single Member State: Spain,” says the report.
The data is made public at a time when migration is once again one of the hottest issues less than a year before the European elections, with the migration pact that is to be closed before the end of the year, and with the governments from Poland and Hungary stressed by their rejection of any reception of migrants.
The far-right Polish government faces the polls in October and with a controversial referendum also scheduled for the same dates that Poles will be asked about the reception of migrants. The reason is due to the agreement reached in June by the EU interior ministers, in which they supported the distribution of asylum seekers in case of an unusually large number of arrivals. If some countries refuse, they must pay 20,000 euros per person per year. The only two countries that voted against it were Poland and Hungary. It is not the only country that has taken controversial measures in recent days, the Belgian federal government has decided that it will not offer asylum to single men and thus prioritize families with children, given the lack of sufficient reception places.
In recent months, the European Union has made an effort to close agreements, for example with Tunisia, to keep migration under control. The vast majority of arrivals were in Italy. with more than 65,000, 140% more than in 2022.
