After al-Assad’s fall – fewer seek asylum in the EU
Brussels – Asylum applications to the EU fell sharply, by 23 percent, during the first six months of the year, according to statistics.
The decline is attributed to significantly fewer Syrians seeking protection, according to the asylum authority EUAA. Statistics from there show about 25,000 Syrian asylum applications to the EU as well as Norway and Switzerland (EU+), which is a decrease of 66 percent compared to the first half of 2024.
The decline cannot be linked to EU policy but is rather connected to the overthrow of Syria’s long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. The Syrian civil war that broke out in March 2011 forced over five million to flee abroad, most of whom ended up in Syria’s neighboring countries.
(September 8)
