EU agency chief predicts further increase in number of asylum seekers

The number of asylum seekers in the European Union (EU) will continue to grow in the future, the head of the EU Asylum Agency (EUAA) Nina Gregori said in an interview with the Funke media group, Report informs citing TASS.

It is clear that applications will continue to grow for the foreseeable future, Gregori said.

She stressed that the geopolitical events that took place in 2021 and 2022 had a direct impact on the need for international protection and led to an increase in the number of displaced people in the EU countries.

Between January and October of this year, almost 790,000 asylum applications were submitted to the EU, which is 54% more than in the same period last year. However, this figure, according to Gregori, remains lower than in 2015 and 2016 - the times of the migration crisis in Europe. According to the EU Asylum Agency, the majority of asylum seekers come from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkiye. Germany has also recently seen an increase in the number of asylum seekers.

Against the backdrop of the current situation in Ukraine and the EU's simplified asylum procedure for Ukrainian refugees, Gregori called for a reform of the system. Millions of registrations, in her opinion, put "significant pressure" on European refugee systems. She welcomed the announcement that structural solutions must be found before the 2024 European elections.