(ANSA) – BRUSSELS, 10 AUGUST – Between June 2026 and June 2027, Italy will be required to examine a maximum number of 16,032 asylum applications received through the new border procedure established with the reform of the EU Pact. This is the highest quota in the EU, accounting for 26.7% of the total. In 2027-2028, Rome’s quota will rise to 24,048.
This is evident from the text on the annual ceiling of requests to be examined through the border procedure for EU countries published in the Official Journal. The countries will need to establish adequate capacity in terms of reception and human resources to handle the influx of applications.
Once the quota of applications to be examined is reached, the solidarity mechanism is triggered. The maximum quota of applications to be processed for each of the Twenty-seven is calculated based on a formula that takes into account the number of irregular crossings of the external borders – including arrivals after search and rescue operations - and rejections communicated by governments over the past three years (from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2023).
The new border procedure, coupled with the solidarity mechanism between countries of first arrival and others, represents the heart of the Pact reform that was agreed upon last December.
Following Italy, Hungary will have the highest quota of applications to be processed, with 15,432 and 23,148 applications in the respective periods. Spain follows with 6,602 and 9,903 annual applications, while Greece (4,376 and 6,564) and Poland (3,128 and 4,692) also have significant quotas.