The number of asylum applications in the EU has increased by almost half in the past year. According to the EU Commission, the largest increase was recorded in Austria, where the number of asylum applications almost tripled. This appears from a confidential report of the EU Commission, from which the Welt am Sonntag quoted. The vast majority of asylum applications were resubmitted in Germany. Austria follows in fourth place. The neighboring country of Hungary forms the rearguard.
The EU Commission’s “situational report” refers to previously unpublished figures from the EU Asylum Authority (EUAA) dated 4 January this year. According to the report, the number of asylum applications in the 27 EU countries will rise to 923,991 in 2022 – an increase of 46.5 percent compared to 2021. In the most populous EU country, Germany, the number of asylum applications has increased by a third to 226,467. 154,597 applications were submitted in France, 116,952 in Spain and 108,490 in Austria. The neighboring country of Hungary on the external border of the EU forms the rearguard. Only 46 asylum applications were submitted here last year, Slovakia registered 544 and Latvia 622 applications.
Applications from Syrians, Afghans, Turks
Most applicants in the EU in 2022 were from Syrians, followed by Afghans, Turks, Venezuelans and Colombians. “Applications from Turkish citizens more than doubled from the previous year, while applications from Venezuelans and Colombians almost tripled,” the report said.
Libya is again attracting more attention as a transit country and country of origin for migrants, according to the EU report: “In 2022, Libya recorded 77,000 departures (of migrants) from its shores since 2017. The Ukrainian refugees are not included in the statistics because they automatically receive a humanitarian residence permit in the EU member states under the so-called Mass Influx Directive. According to the EU report, there were “almost five million temporary protection registrations for people fleeing Ukraine” in the EU last year.
Karner: “Schengen system broken”
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) again saw the high number of asylum applications, particularly in landlocked countries like Austria, as proof “that the Schengen system is broken”. A well-functioning surveillance of the external borders requires both technical improvements and legal adjustments, Karner said in a statement on Sunday, referring to his visit to Bulgaria together with Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) on Monday. The talks there would serve to further develop effective external border control, the joint fight against the smuggling mafia and “in a broad alliance to increase pressure on the EU Commission so that concrete measures can be taken”.
The FPÖ saw itself confirmed by the figures that the “black-green – under the main responsibility of ÖVP Chancellor Nehammer and ÖVP Interior Minister Karner” had made Austria “the main target country for the new migration of peoples”. The figures would confirm that the problems were largely self-inflicted, FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer said in a broadcast. The FPÖ again called for “genuine border protection, the suspension of the right to asylum for illegal immigrants and an enormous unattractiveness of Austria as a place of asylum”.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
