Brussels – According to data published today (March 20) by Eurostat, asylum claims in the EU decreased in the past year. The EU statistical agency said that in 2024, 912 thousand third country citizens applied for international protection in a member state for the first time, down 13 percent from the previous year, the first year-to-year drop since 2019.
In terms of nationality, Syrians ranked first (148,000 applications, 16 percent of the total), followed by Venezuelans (72,800 applications, or 8 percent) and Afghans, which ranked third for the first time in six years (72,200 or 7.8 percent).
The countries that received the most applications were Germany (229,700 ), Spain (164,000), Italy and France (151,100 and 130.900), together accounting for about 82 percent of all asylum applications filed, with specific peculiarities: Italy received most applications from Peruvians (58 percent). In comparison, France saw a sharp increase in applications for protection from Ukrainians (+90 percent). Germany alone received 25 percent of total applications for protection, while Italy received 17 percent.
Taking into account the aggregate population of the 27 member states, on average, two applications for international protection were made for every 1,000 EU citizens in the year under review. Of course, this figure varies significantly from one member state to another: the highest ratio of asylum seekers to population was in Cyprus (7.2 applications per 1,000 inhabitants), Greece (6.6 applications), and Ireland and Spain (both with 3.4 applications). In Italy, this figure stands at 0.2 applications per thousand inhabitants, not precisely the numbers showing an “ethnic replacement.”
Unaccompanied minors totaled 36,300, of whom 13,300 applied in Germany (37 percent of the total number of unaccompanied minors), 4,300 in The Netherlands (12 percent), and 4,000 in Greece (12 percent). Of these, 11,600 were from Syria (32 percent), 5,700 from Afghanistan (16 percent), and 2,400 from Somalia (7 percent).
The issue of migration was the central theme of the coordination meeting held this morning before the European Council and chaired by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof, and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen. In addition to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, heads of state or government from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Sweden attended the meeting.
The EU leader outlined the crackdown on repatriations presented to the heads of state and government on March 11. As a note from Palazzo Chigi states, Meloni instead called for “rapid developments also on the issue of the European list of safe countries of origin and the anticipation of some aspects of the Migration and Asylum Pact, starting with the concept of safe country of origin.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
