Over 190,000 asylum applications have been made in Germany since the beginning of the year, in Austria there were over 106,000. This puts Austria in fourth place in the EU.
Germany remains the EU leader in asylum applications this year. This emerges from a confidential report on migration and the refugee situation by the EU Commission, which the newspaper “WELT” quoted on Saturday. According to this, 190,749 people have applied for asylum in Germany since the beginning of the year. France (115,820), Spain (111,220), Austria (106,554) and Italy (78,897) follow. The EU solidarity mechanism to relieve the Mediterranean countries is hardly making any headway.
The “situation report” of the EU Commission refers to previously unpublished figures from the European Asylum Support Office (EUAA) of December 13th. The increase in asylum applications in 2022 compared to the same period last year was strongest in Ireland (439 percent), Estonia (362.1 percent) and Austria (202 percent).
Taillights: Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia
Hungary (43), Slovakia (382) and Latvia (548) register the fewest asylum applications. Background: Ukrainian citizens are largely not included in the statistics. Because of the war in their country, according to a decision by the EU interior ministers on March 4, 2022, the EU’s so-called mass influx directive applies to them. According to this, Ukrainian nationals in the EU member states will automatically receive a humanitarian residence permit, which gives them access to education, work, social benefits and medical care.
Halfway through the European mechanism to relieve the Mediterranean countries of dealing with asylum seekers, Germany and other countries have only taken in 255 people seeking protection. With the solidarity mechanism decided in June, a total of 13 countries actually offered to take in a total of more than 8,000 people seeking protection, according to the EU Commission.
On June 22, the EU states agreed on a solidarity mechanism to support Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Malta and Spain in dealing with asylum seekers. They can either accept those seeking protection from the Mediterranean countries or help them with money or benefits in kind. Taking in people seeking protection is considered the preferred option. Participation in the program is voluntary and also open to non-EU countries such as Norway and Switzerland. The mechanism is initially set to run for one year. However, implementation is progressing slowly. The government in Rome had therefore recently complained several times that Italy was not being helped enough. The EU Commission says that further resettlements are being prepared, including from countries other than Italy and Cyprus.
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