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The EU raises the alarm about the growing requests for asylum from 'safe' countries, including Albania

The EU raises the alarm about the growing requests for asylum from

The European Union is becoming increasingly concerned about the growing number of requests submitted by asylum seekers who, in principle, are not entitled to international protection, such as nationals from India, Bangladesh, Morocco, Egypt and Peru.

The European Commission estimates that 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 nationals from countries considered official candidates to join the bloc, such as Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia and Moldova.

The growing concern among member states came to the fore during an informal two-day meeting of interior ministers that took place in Stockholm this week, writes Euronews .

"We have three times more asylum applications than irregular arrivals and these are overwhelming the reception capacities, " Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said on Thursday.

"Many of them do not need international protection."

Johansson said that over 60% of these applications will end in a "negative" decision, which is a refusal of asylum and an order to leave the EU territory.

About 850,000 applications, including first-time applications and appeals, are still awaiting a final decision, the article continued. 

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