Brussels (Brussels Morning) Germany remains the most popular EU destination for asylum seekers, with the number of applications increasing this year.
The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) stated that it received more than 100,000 applications in the first nine months of the year, up 35.2% compared to the corresponding period last year, DW reported on Sunday.
Most of the applicants were from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, BAMF noted that the number of applications from Afghanistan had jumped by 138% year-on-year. Syria with a 57.1% increase and Iraq with 22% were next.
Besides their higher numbers, asylum seekers are reaching Germany via more routes. The traditional routes continue to be through Greece, Spain and Italy. However, Belarus has recently begun to feature, an outcome of its on-going dispute with Brussels.
Belarus accused of pressuring
Several EU member states and the EC have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating the wave of illegal border crossings to pressure the EU in retaliation for sanctions.
According to Europol sources, Belarus is helping Syrians to fly from Damascus to Minsk, the German Welt am Sonntag reported. Belarus previously helped Syrians flee from conflict to Turkey, with the weekly noting that Belarus is now issuing three-month tourist visas to people from Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan.
Last week, the German federal police reported arresting roughly 4,900 people at the Polish border, all of whom had entered the bloc illegally from Belarus.
Germany is in the process of forming a government following its recent election, with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the biggest winners, likely to form a coalition with the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party.
Such a coalition government could overhaul Germany’s migration policies and make it easier for people whose asylum applications had been rejected previously to gain citizenship. Their conservative political opponents, led by the Christian Democrats of departing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU, have denounced any such plans as the equivalent of abandoning control of migration.
