The number of asylum applications in the EU were 924,000

 Migration: The European Union's perennial conundrum

A big step up in requests for asylum last year has put one of the EU's touchiest issues, migration, back in the limelight. 

One idea is to leverage visa, aid and trade policy to get third countries to take back deportees.

Conservative Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer is pushing for EU cash for border fences. Sweden, current holder of the rotating EU presidency, is keen to step up deportation. 

Poland and Hungary are long-standing, outspoken critics of liberal migration and asylum policy. Denmark has a goal of taking in "zero" refugees.

Last year saw a drastic increase in the number of asylum applications in the EU. There were 924,000, according to the European Commission, up from 630,000 the year before.

Applications are still well below the migration crisis peak of 1.3 million seen in 2015

Deutsche Welle 8 February 2023

https://www.dw.com/en/migration-the-european-unions-perennial-conundrum/a-64636153