“New figures on migration from the EU Asylum Agency are pure eyewash”

The published figures on the slight decline in asylum applications in the EU, Norway and Switzerland do not prove a fundamental change in migration policy. From the point of view of the liberal EU MP Petra Steger, this is a “pure eyewash”.

In fact, the agency continued to register over a million initial claims last year. Although this is a slight decrease from 1.14 million in 2023, the important key figure is still well above the values ​​for the period 2017 to 2022. For Steger, a scandal: “The EU measures adopted in the area of ​​migration have no impact “This has led to a noticeable improvement in the situation, although the absorption capacities of the Western European EU countries have long since been exhausted.”

From the FPÖ’s point of view, the countries of origin are particularly dramatic; most applicants still come from Syria. A strategy for prompt repatriation after the end of the civil war is still missing. “The flood gates are still being kept open and there is neither the intention nor a strategy at the European level to close them again,” criticized Steger.