The European Union is becoming increasingly worried about the surging number of requests lodged by asylum seekers who are, in principle, ineligible for international protection, such as nationals from India, Bangladesh, Morocco, Egypt and Peru.
The European Commission estimates the number of asylum applications reached 924,000 by the end of 2022 – the highest level since 2016 – while irregular border crossings tripled year-on-year to 330,000.
Notably, the asylum requests included citizens from countries considered official candidates to join the bloc, like Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia and Moldova.
The growing concern among member states came to the fore during a two-day informal meeting of interior ministers that took place in Stockholm this week.
“We have three times more asylum applications than irregular arrivals and these are overloading the reception capacities,” Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for home affairs, said on Thursday.
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Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/01/27/eu-raises-the-alarm-on-soaring-asylum-requests-from-safe-countries
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