Calls for a British-style approach to processing asylum claims in non-European countries such as Rwanda are growing among EU members as official figures suggest that more than one million migrants will arrive in the bloc this year.
Statistics from the EU’s Agency for Asylum (EUAA), which includes Norway and Switzerland, show that 519,000 asylum applications were lodged in the first six months of this year, with a projected return to levels not seen since the crisis of 2015 and 2016.
“Historically, the volume of applications tends to be higher in the second half of the year,” the agency said. “If this pattern holds, by the end of the year more than one million asylum applications will be received in 2023.”
In 2015 more than 1.2 million asylum claims were lodged in Europe, plunging the EU into one of its worst crises and contributing to Brexit.
The EUAA alert coincides with deepening political divisions over migration across Europe.
Austria broke ranks this week to demand that the EU follow the controversial British model of processing claims in Rwanda or other countries outside Europe, despite the policy being blocked on legal and human rights grounds.
“Austria will continue to do its utmost in the EU to create the political and legal conditions for asylum procedures to be carried out already, outside the EU. We will not give in,” Karl Nehammer, the chancellor, told Die Welt newspaper. “Corresponding agreements with third countries are possible, as the example of Rwanda shows.”
Austria, Denmark, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Latvia, Malta and Estonia wrote to the European Commission in June warning that “the asylum system is broken”.
The Danes, who have an opt-out from common EU refugee policy, entered into a British-style deal with Rwanda but decided after elections last year to suspend it.
In July the EU signed a deal with President Saied of Tunisia to pay more than €1 billion in economic incentives in return for his help in stemming migration flows across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and wider Europe, despite widespread claims of human rights abuses by his regime.
“The agreement between Tunisia and the EU on limiting illegal migration is groundbreaking,” Nehammer said.
Migration is an increasingly divisive issue in all European nations, triggering elections in Poland in October and the Netherlands in November. Poland will also hold a referendum next month over proposals from the EU to impose migrant quotas or fine countries that refuse them.
The Dutch will go to the polls after the collapse of the government in the summer over plans to cut family reunification rights for asylum seekers. The elections are expected to push the country toward the populist right.
The issue of asylum is also likely to be a deciding issue in Europe-wide parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.
In Germany the rise of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has pushed the Christian Democrats to the right, with pledges to introduce border controls alongside fast-track deportations of migrants.
Last week Belgium, traditionally refugee-friendly, refused to provide shelter for single men seeking asylum, prompting condemnation from the Council of Europe and other human rights watchdogs.
The new EUAA statistics show that the levels of asylum seekers seen during the migration crisis are becoming the new normal after a lull during the pandemic.
Asylum claims increased by 53 per cent last year and continued climbing in the first six months of this year as backlogs in processing claims grow across Europe.
“At the end of June 2023 some 682,000 cases were awaiting a first-instance decision, which is up by 34 per cent compared to a year ago,” the agency said.
Statistics suggest that 59 per cent of claims will be turned down, raising the question of what happens to the failed asylum seekers. Last year 73,845 people were returned to their countries of origin from the EU.
Germany, France, Spain and Austria continue to be the main countries of destination for asylum seekers, with Syrians and Afghans submitting the most claims.
It was Denmark’s model first.
The issue is not the number of asylum seekers who get a positive decision (41% only) but the impact of:
– the fact that asylum is now a guaranteed route to permanent residency and citizenship in many countries
– rejected claimants not getting deported (unless from Albania or Georgia, maybe)
– family reunification
If asylum routes (which are legitimate) end up being responsible for net migration of over 1-1.5 million annually, Europe has de facto abdicated control over half of immigrant intakes, rendering any immigration policy worthless. We already have a problem with immigration being low-skilled, and this will never get solved if the ones deciding on who settles to Europe are the migrants themselves as opposed to European governments.
They were for ages lol.
NL, Denmark and Norway have been talking the same as the UK for the whole time the UK has.
The fact that the EU label this a UK model is nothing but propaganda designed to make the UK look like the bad guy for them tagging along and doing the same
Last time I looked we hadn’t sent a single person to Rwanda under this model.
I work with refugees and we are sitting on time bombs, Last week a guy told me he loves hitler. Like Seriously. Hes from Syria. There is no Education, only violence, war and facist Religion since fucking years. Sometimes i think we Need some sort of George W Bush again
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Calls for a British-style approach to processing asylum claims in non-European countries such as Rwanda are growing among EU members as official figures suggest that more than one million migrants will arrive in the bloc this year.
Statistics from the EU’s Agency for Asylum (EUAA), which includes Norway and Switzerland, show that 519,000 asylum applications were lodged in the first six months of this year, with a projected return to levels not seen since the crisis of 2015 and 2016.
“Historically, the volume of applications tends to be higher in the second half of the year,” the agency said. “If this pattern holds, by the end of the year more than one million asylum applications will be received in 2023.”
In 2015 more than 1.2 million asylum claims were lodged in Europe, plunging the EU into one of its worst crises and contributing to Brexit.
The EUAA alert coincides with deepening political divisions over migration across Europe.
Austria broke ranks this week to demand that the EU follow the controversial British model of processing claims in Rwanda or other countries outside Europe, despite the policy being blocked on legal and human rights grounds.
“Austria will continue to do its utmost in the EU to create the political and legal conditions for asylum procedures to be carried out already, outside the EU. We will not give in,” Karl Nehammer, the chancellor, told Die Welt newspaper. “Corresponding agreements with third countries are possible, as the example of Rwanda shows.”
Austria, Denmark, Lithuania, Greece, Slovakia, Latvia, Malta and Estonia wrote to the European Commission in June warning that “the asylum system is broken”.
The Danes, who have an opt-out from common EU refugee policy, entered into a British-style deal with Rwanda but decided after elections last year to suspend it.
In July the EU signed a deal with President Saied of Tunisia to pay more than €1 billion in economic incentives in return for his help in stemming migration flows across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and wider Europe, despite widespread claims of human rights abuses by his regime.
“The agreement between Tunisia and the EU on limiting illegal migration is groundbreaking,” Nehammer said.
Migration is an increasingly divisive issue in all European nations, triggering elections in Poland in October and the Netherlands in November. Poland will also hold a referendum next month over proposals from the EU to impose migrant quotas or fine countries that refuse them.
The Dutch will go to the polls after the collapse of the government in the summer over plans to cut family reunification rights for asylum seekers. The elections are expected to push the country toward the populist right.
The issue of asylum is also likely to be a deciding issue in Europe-wide parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.
In Germany the rise of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has pushed the Christian Democrats to the right, with pledges to introduce border controls alongside fast-track deportations of migrants.
Last week Belgium, traditionally refugee-friendly, refused to provide shelter for single men seeking asylum, prompting condemnation from the Council of Europe and other human rights watchdogs.
The new EUAA statistics show that the levels of asylum seekers seen during the migration crisis are becoming the new normal after a lull during the pandemic.
Asylum claims increased by 53 per cent last year and continued climbing in the first six months of this year as backlogs in processing claims grow across Europe.
“At the end of June 2023 some 682,000 cases were awaiting a first-instance decision, which is up by 34 per cent compared to a year ago,” the agency said.
Statistics suggest that 59 per cent of claims will be turned down, raising the question of what happens to the failed asylum seekers. Last year 73,845 people were returned to their countries of origin from the EU.
Germany, France, Spain and Austria continue to be the main countries of destination for asylum seekers, with Syrians and Afghans submitting the most claims.
It was Denmark’s model first.
The issue is not the number of asylum seekers who get a positive decision (41% only) but the impact of:
– the fact that asylum is now a guaranteed route to permanent residency and citizenship in many countries
– rejected claimants not getting deported (unless from Albania or Georgia, maybe)
– family reunification
If asylum routes (which are legitimate) end up being responsible for net migration of over 1-1.5 million annually, Europe has de facto abdicated control over half of immigrant intakes, rendering any immigration policy worthless. We already have a problem with immigration being low-skilled, and this will never get solved if the ones deciding on who settles to Europe are the migrants themselves as opposed to European governments.
They were for ages lol.
NL, Denmark and Norway have been talking the same as the UK for the whole time the UK has.
The fact that the EU label this a UK model is nothing but propaganda designed to make the UK look like the bad guy for them tagging along and doing the same
Last time I looked we hadn’t sent a single person to Rwanda under this model.
I work with refugees and we are sitting on time bombs, Last week a guy told me he loves hitler. Like Seriously. Hes from Syria. There is no Education, only violence, war and facist Religion since fucking years. Sometimes i think we Need some sort of George W Bush again