Brussels, 21/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 21 January, the European Commission indicated that it had no comment to make regarding Austria's initiative on asylum because the decisions had not been adopted. Natasha Bertaud, the spokesperson for migration, was speaking after Austria's decision to examine the possibility of introducing a ceiling on the number of asylum seekers it sought to process in 2016.
On Wednesday 20 January, the Austrian Chancellor, Werner Faymann, announced that Austria intended to introduce a ceiling on the number of demands for asylum submitted annually, which in 2016 would be 37,500. In 2015, more than 90,000 dossiers were submitted. Austria wants to limit the number of people benefiting from its protection over the next three years to 1.5% of its total population (8.5 million).
On several occasions in 2015, European leaders explained that it was not possible to set quotas on the number of asylum seekers and that any demands would be examined in the context of the obligations related to the United Nations 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)