BRUSSELS
\nAsylum applications to the EU dropped to a five-year-low in the first half of 2026, continuing a downward trend partly brought about by a hardening of migration policy, the bloc\u2019s asylum agency said Thursday.
\nThe European Union plus Switzerland and Norway (EU+) received 332,000 applications for international protection from January to June, 17 percent fewer than in the same period last year. \u201cThis is the lowest number recorded in the first half of a year since 2021,\u201d the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) said.
\nThe agency attributed the decrease to the political transition in Syria, which has resulted in a massive drop in applications filed by the country\u2019s nationals, as well as to the EU\u2019s \u201cefforts in cooperating with countries of origin and transit\u201d.
\nBrussels has recently struck deals with Northern African countries including Tunisia and Mauritania, providing aid and investments in return for help with migration. War in the Middle East had also not translated into a feared increase in applications from the countries affected, the EUAA said.
\nAfghans were the largest group of applicants, with 39,000 requests for protection, followed by Venezuelans and Bangladeshis. Less than a third of applications processed in the first six months of the year were successful, the agency said, noting that this was due to have an impact on future requests.
\nUnder rules that came into force in June, applicants from countries that have a recognition rate of less than 20 percent undergo an expedited procedure linked to swift deportation in case of rejection. The same is true for applicants from countries the EU deems \u201csafe\u201d. \u201cIn the first half of 2026, nearly 56 percent of applications were from citizenships meeting one or more of these criteria,\u201d the EUAA said.
\nAmong EU nations, France received the highest number of applications (69,000), followed by Italy (66,000), Spain (55,000) and Germany (55,000). With 23,000 requests Greece was the country that received the most applications per capita.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS Asylum applications to the EU dropped to a five-year-low in the first half of 2026, continuing a downward trend partly brought about by a hardening of migration policy, the bloc\u2019s asylum agency said Thursday. The European Union plus Switzerland and Norway (EU+) received 332,000 applications for international protection from January to June, 17 percent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n