On Tuesday 4 July, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) published its 2023 report on asylum, in which it confirms that 996,000 asylum applications were lodged in 2022 in the EU and Schengen countries. This is an increase of 53% compared to 2021, and more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees were also registered under the Temporary Protection Directive.
According to the report, in 2022, 13 Member States recorded the highest number of asylum applications since 2008, and while the number of applications lodged in the EU+ “remained well below the high of 2015, the number of applications exceeded 2015 values in several countries”. In the EU+, 7 out of 10 applications were filed in five main countries: Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Italy.
Nationals from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Venezuela and Colombia submitted the highest number of applications. While the record levels in 2015 and 2016 were mainly due to applications for protection from people from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the current increase stems from a much wider range of nationalities.
The report also takes stock of legislative developments and the number of so-called ‘Dublin’ procedures for returning asylum seekers to the country responsible, developments which have mainly affected France and Germany.
Link to the document: https://aeur.eu/f/7vz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)