In 2017, the European Union, countries in the European Economic Area and Switzerland experienced a 44% fall in the number of asylum applications. Although this figure fell to 728,470 requests, as opposed to 1.3 million in 2016, it is still higher than the pre-2015 level. The number of negative decisions also increased compared to 2016, with positive decisions for asylum requests declining from 60% to 46%.
These are some of the updates provided on Monday 18 June by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) during the publication of its 2017 annual report.
The report was presented in spite of the member states’ divisions revealed by the German crisis (see other article). It outlines the first trends for 2018 that show that over the January-April period there was a stabilisation in the number of requests to an average of at least 50,000 a month. Germany, was the main host country for asylum seekers with 222,560 requests, with 31% of the European total. This was followed by Italy (128,850 requests), France (100,000), then Greece and the United Kingdom.
The proportion of asylum seekers, particularly in countries like Italy, France, Greece, the United Kingdom and Sweden, almost doubled between 2016 and 2017. Greece was also the country with the highest proportion of asylum seekers in relation to the number of inhabitants.
Syria (15%), Iraq (7%) and Afghanistan (7%) remained the three main countries of origin for asylum seekers, followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Eritrea, Albania, Bangladesh, Guinea and Iran.
Fewer positive decisions
For all decisions of first instance made in 2017, almost half (462,355) were positive but this overall rate of positive responses was 14% less than in 2016.
Despite the overall fall in the number of decisions made, the number of negative decisions in fact increased from 449,910 in 2016 to 534,330 in 2017.
With regard to positive decisions, in 2017 there was a distinct decrease in the share of decisions granting refugee status (down to 50%, from 55% in 2016) or subsidiary protection (34%, down from 37%), while there was a parallel increase in the proportion of those granting humanitarian protection (15%, up from 8%).
Decisions reached on Dublin requests (returns from country to country) were most commonly made for citizens of Afghanistan (11% of the total), Syria (8%), Iraq (8%), and Nigeria (6%). The report emphasises that a majority of these decisions involved cases where someone had submitted a request in an EU country and then had gone to another country.
In 2017, the 26 countries from the area carried out just over 25,000 transfers, which effectively translates into a one third increase compared to the rate for 2016. Three quarters of all transfers in 2017 came from five countries: Germany, Greece, Austria, France and the Netherlands.
Positive effects of European measures
Questioned about this data, the European Commission explained on Monday evening that this reduction demonstrated the efficiency of the measures implemented for strengthening the EU's external borders. Over recent years, the EU has launched a raft of initiatives such as the agreement with Turkey in 2016, measures for helping Italy tackle the numbers of arrivals from Libya and the launch of the "migration compact" with countries of origin and transit. It also concluded readmission agreements or similar mechanisms that are more clearly flexible, such as the standard operating procedures with countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Donald Tusk touring European capitals in preparation of European Summit
In the meantime, on the question of reforming the European asylum system and particularly the controversial Dublin regulation, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk began a tour of the different capitals stretching from Rome to Berlin, by way of Budapest and Vienna, in preparation of the summit on the 28th and 29th of June.
In Berlin, Ms Merkel is also expected to meet the President of the Italian Council, Giuseppe Conte on Monday 18 June, in an attempt to reach a compromise with her CSU ally, the Minister for the Interior, Horst Seehofer, who would like to toughen up and fast-track Dublin transfer procedures and make the sending back of asylum seekers in Germany almost automatic if they have been registered in another member state.
Over the weekend, Angela Merkel mentioned the possibility of arranging a European leaders' meetings before the summit on 28-29 June, in an effort to develop a possible solution for asylum reform. On 18 June, the European Commission asserted that it was open to all "possible formats" that could help make progress between now and the European Summit. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)