Brussels, Belgium, 8 April 2025 — A new briefing from 17 civil society organisations highlights the stark disparity between the number of asylum claims being submitted in different EU countries, and warns that the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum could fail to meet its goals unless states better share responsibility.
While Cyprus and Greece received more than 7,000 asylum applications per million inhabitants last year, Denmark registered 387 applications per million inhabitants, Romania 127, and Slovakia just 30.
The increased pressure on countries of first-entry, such as Cyprus and Greece, has put strain on their asylum systems, resulting in people being exposed to overcrowded reception conditions, becoming trapped in a state of legal limbo, and facing an increased risk of human rights violations at borders, including pushbacks.
The EU Pact on Asylum and Migration - due to be implemented next year - requires the creation of a new ‘solidarity mechanism’ which will allow states to either relocate people seeking asylum from countries of first arrival, or contribute to their reception in another way - for example, by making a financial contribution. The IRC and partners are concerned this will end up being spent on further deterrence methods, rather than upholding people’s rights and welcoming them with dignity.
Today’s briefing from organisations including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Caritas Europa, and the Greek Council for Refugees, draws from their own experiences to highlight how EU states could improve relocation and other systems to welcome people seeking asylum. They are together calling for the EU’s ‘solidarity mechanism’ to prioritise relocations, warning that the failure to make this a reality will result in even greater fragmentation, and undermine the chances of forging a truly common EU asylum system.
Marta Welander, IRC’s EU Advocacy Director, says:
“It’s time for the EU to learn lessons from its previous relocation schemes, in which EU states have too often failed to reach their targets, and vulnerable people on the move have been left in a tortuous state of legal limbo for months or years on end. This time round, the EU needs to ensure that its ‘solidarity mechanism’ succeeds in relocating people, that it is bold, realistic and enforceable, and that it puts peoples’ fundamental rights front and centre.
“Given the EU’s current push towards policies of deterrence, including the creation of so-called ‘return hubs’, it’s essential that any financial contributions towards solidarity are used to welcome people with dignity and respect - not be used to further the EU’s externalisation policies that have repeatedly been proven to be cruel, costly and counterproductive.
“Without strong enforcement and political will, solidarity will remain little more than a symbolic gesture rather than a tool to genuinely ease pressure on the countries welcoming the vast majority of people seeking asylum in Europe. This will not only have a devastating impact on people on the move, but for hopes to create a common European asylum system which is truly fit for the future.”