The number of asylum applications in the EU has risen sharply in the first half of 2023, according to the official annual report, reports Politico.
The European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA) in its annual report informed that the number of asylum applications in the period of January to June 2023 was 28% higher than in the same period in 2022.
Asylum seekers submitted 519 000 applications in the first half of 2023, the highest number since 2016, when the number of applications reached 633 184. Based on current figures, the number of asylum applications could
exceed one million by the end of the year.
EU Member States are facing a labour shortage to process asylum applications – with a 34% increase in the number of cases expected in 2023 due to the growing arrivals of migrants, while the EU is seeking to introduce new rules to speed up asylum requests ahead of the European Parliament elections in June 2024, hoping that Member States will approve the migration reform package and start negotiations with the European Parliament in the autumn.
The number of asylum seekers, including Syrian refugees and sub-Saharan African migrants, has increased significantly in the EU, especially in Germany, where
62% of asylum seekers have submitted applications,
continuing a trend that is seen since the start of the Syrian civil war more than a decade ago.
In the first half of 2023, asylum applications from sub-Saharan Africa doubled, departures from North African countries also increased, as well as more Russians and Iranians received international protection in the EU.
There are still concerns about the disparities in the distribution of migrants in the EU, in particularly the so-called “Dublin transfers”.
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