First time asylum applications on the rise in the EU

[webfact]

First time asylum applications on the rise in the EU



BRUSSELS: -- The number of people claiming asylum in the EU has risen by 150 percent year-on-year, officials figures show.

It will put further pressure on policymakers who have been struggling to come up with coherent plan to deal with the influx.

The number of first-asylum applications stood at 413,800 in the three month period ending September.

That’s up by 250 400 more than in the same quarter of 2014

The vast majority of those people are Syrian, fleeing the five-year conflict in their homeland.

But many also hail from other war-ravaged countries, such as Afghanistan or Iraq.

Germany and Hungary, which both saw large surges, are the countries usually where those asylum applications are first lodged.

Both countries have trying to cope with the influx amid reports of processing backlogs.

The crisis has sparked bickering between different member states, including rows over border fences, ID checks and burden sharing.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has opened an investigation into Hungary’s asylum procedures.

It tightened rules this year, meaning the country could turn down more claims.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-12-11

[Krataiboy]

What a mess. Absorbing millions of homeless, penniless, uneducated people with a different language, culture and religion into European countries already struggling to survive economically is a recipe for disaster - both for the migrants, who will be unhappy fish out of water and indigenous populations whose own living standards will be negatively impacted.

Refugees - and only refugees, not economic migrants - to Britain should be offered temporary residence only, on the understanding that once hostilities cease, they will accept a resettlement package enabling them to return to their homelands. Arab countries in the Gulf region should be made to contribute the re-homing process and the reconstruction of towns and villages trashed by the IS Frankenstein they helped create - and which some of them continue to support.

A generous cash inducement should be part of the resettlement deal. Whatever the sum decided on, it would work out considerably less in the long run than keeping thousands more immigrant families on welfare. The last thing we need is an increased demand on our already overstretched social services, such as housing, schools and hospitals.

With shameful numbers of our children being raised in poverty, food banks seemingly the biggest growth industry and 30,000 old folk likely to die this winter because they can't afford to keep their homes warm, Britain really needs to start getting its priorities right.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Krataiboy

[Ulic]

Just the tip of the iceberg and the start of what is coming down the pipe with Mutti's open arms welcome.