On Thursday 15 December, the European Union’s Statistical Office, Eurostat, indicated that during the third quarter of 2016 (from July to September), 358,300 first time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the member states of the European Union (EU), up by 17% compared with the second quarter of 2016 when 305,700 first time applicants were registered.
From January to September 2016, more than 950,000 first time asylum seekers were registered in the EU member states.
With...