ROME: A total of 966,000 applications for asylum in the European Union were filed last year, an increase of more than 50% compared with the previous year, the EU's asylum agency announced in the Maltese capital Valletta on Wednesday.
This is the highest number since 2016, it said, adding to around 4 million people who had fled Ukraine and found refuge in the EU.
Syria (132,000) and Afghanistan (129,000) were the most common countries of origin among the asylum applications, the authority wrote.
Turkey ranked third among the countries of origin with 55,000 applications, more than twice as many as a year earlier.
Last year, 632,000 applications were decided at first instance, with a recognition rate of 40%, according to the statement.
The agency says the reasons for the sharp increase in the number of asylum applications include the ending of coronavirus-related travel restrictions, armed conflicts and poor nutrition in many parts of the world.
UK TO SIMPLIFY ASYLUM CLAIMS
The UK plans to fast-track certain asylum applications as official data released on Thursday showed the backlog of those waiting for a decision hit a record number last year of over 160,000.
Thousands of applicants from certain countries will be sent a short questionnaire rather than automatically facing an interview, according to a leaked document seen by British media.
The questionnaires will be sent to asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya and Syria, nationalities whose acceptance rate for some kind of protection currently stands at over 90 per cent.
The move has angered both sides of the immigration debate, with the Red Cross warning it could have a "devastating impact" on vulnerable refugees, while right wing newspaper the Daily Mail said it amounted to an "amnesty" for 12,000 migrants.
A total of 160,919 asylum seekers were awaiting a decision as of December 31 and 109,641 among them have been waiting more than six months.
The total represents a 17,542 rise since September, and an annual increase of more than 60,000.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to reduce the backlog by the end of the year, and also to "stop the boats" crossing the Channel.
More than 45,000 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK from mainland Europe in 2022, surpassing the previous year's record by more than 17,000.
ITALY CLAMPING DOWN ON MIGRANTS
Meanwhile, Italy's parliament on Thursday passed into law a government decree establishing a code of conduct for migrant charity ships, despite criticism from the United Nations and humanitarian groups that it will imperil lives.
The new set of rules is part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's efforts to crack down on the rescue vessels, which her government says encourage people to make the perilous trip across the Mediterranean from northern Africa.
Charities deny this, saying migrants set to sea regardless of whether rescue boats are in the vicinity.
Under the new law, ships have to request access to a port and sail to it "without delay" after a rescue, rather than remain at sea looking for other migrant boats in distress.
Previously, vessels operated by charities, or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), often spent several days in the central Mediterranean and regularly completed multiple rescues before heading north towards Italy.
Captains breaching these rules risk fines of up to 50,000 euros ($53,355), and repeated violations can result in their vessels being impounded, the law stipulates.
"If immigration is not controlled, it creates exploitation, forced labour, illegal labour," Nicola Molteni, undersecretary at the interior ministry, told parliament on Thursday.
"If immigration is not controlled, it creates pockets of illegality and crime, generating a sense of social insecurity."
Humanitarian groups said banning multiple rescues would cause ever more deaths while the United Nations urged Italy to withdraw the proposal after it obtained an initial green light from the lower house of parliament in mid-February.
"This is simply the wrong way to address this humanitarian crisis," said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. -- AFP/Reuters
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