EU asylum applications fall in 2024, with Germany seeing 30% drop

Asylum applications in the European Union fell by around 12 percent in 2024, according to a new report by European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA).

Just over one million initial applications were recorded last year by the Malta-based agency across the 27 EU member nations, along with Norway and Switzerland. 

This figure compared to 1.14 million in 2023, based on the report seen by German news agency DPA and newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

According to reported EUAA data , there were 235,925 initial applications in Germany.

Spain and Germany top list

However, despite these numbers in Germany, it also experienced a decrease of 30.2 percent in asylum applications compared to 2023, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

The EUAA report also stated that most people seeking asylum in the EU came from Syria (15 percent), Afghanistan (8.7), Venezuela (7.3) and Turkiye (5.5).

The numbers of initial applications in Germany reflected this with BAMF's figures showing that most came from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkiye.

Spain ranked second in the list of European countries with the most asylum applications with 165,398 applicants. Next was France (158,512) and Italy (154,824).

Hungary received only 29 new asylum applications in 2024. There has been an escalating battle between Brussels and Budapest centered around a massive fine leveled against Hungary for breaching EU asylum laws. 

In June 2024 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) fined Hungary $205 million for breaking the EU's asylum laws by "unlawfully detaining" asylum-seekers and deporting them before they could appeal the rejection of their applications. 

Migration is also a major issue for voters in February's German election, with the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) gaining ground with its anti-immigrant rhetoric.

On hold for Syria

With most people seeking asylum in the EU coming from Syria, the recent suspension of asylum claims from several EU member states following the downfall of Bashar al-Assad is a controversial topic.

Germany, for example, paused asylum applications from Syrians in December after al-Assad fled to Russia as opposition forces took control of Damascus. It has been reported that as many as 47,000 applicants have been affected by this policy.

Over the weekend, Germany's vice chancellor Robert Habeck said Syrians who do not work should return to Syria. 

Meanwhile, the Italian government, which has processed fewer Syrian asylum requests than any other EU member state, has paused applications altogether. Human Rights organizations have condemned this move.

Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty International Italy, has been criticial of this by stating that despite Italy being the first EU country to reopen its embassy in Damascus, the situation in Syria was far from stable.

"That's why the decision to freeze asylum requests for an unlimited time is simply reckless. It's in contrast with a EU directive dating back to 2013 and with a decree approved in Italy in 2008," Noury said.

Italy are not alone. France, Belgium, Austria, Greece, and Sweden have all announced a temporary freeze on Syrian asylum claims.