Brussels, 24/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission will publish the 2008 annual report on the activities of Eurodac, the EU-wide fingerprint database for asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. The report reveals among other things that there is a sharp rise in the number of people apprehended in connection with irregular crossing of the EU external border. In 2008, Eurodac successfully processed 219,557 sets of fingerprints of asylum seekers, 61,945 sets of fingerprints of people crossing the borders unlawfully, and 75,919 sets of fingerprints of people apprehended while illegally staying on the territory of a member state. Statistics show that, in 2008, the number of asylum seekers progressed by 11.3%, while there was a 62.3% surge in illegal immigrants compared to 2007. The number of checks on persons in an unlawful situation also increased by 17.6% to reach 75,919. The report reveals that 17.5% of the asylum applications in 2008 were subsequent (i.e. second or more) asylum applications by the same person in the same country or in another member state (multiple application). Eurodac's central unit has been available 99.84% of the time, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It has continued to provide very satisfactory results in terms of efficiency, quality and cost, the Commission states. There is, however, concern, about the fact that it takes too long to forward data to the Eurodac central unit. Such data can have an influence on determining which member state is responsible for examining an asylum claim. (B.C./transl.jl)