Brussels, 18/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - EU member states granted protection to 78,800 asylum seekers in 2009, compared to 75,100 in 2008. The largest groups of beneficiaries of protection status in the EU27 were citizens of Somalia (13,400 persons or 17% of the total number of persons granted protection status), Iraq (13,100 or 17%) and Afghanistan (7,100 or 9%). In 2009, 317,500 decisions on asylum applications were made in the EU27, of which 228,600 were first instance decisions and 88,900...