Spain has received, for the first time, more asylum applications than any of its European Union partners, according to official data from the European Office for Refugee Support. The ongoing crisis in Venezuela, and widespread violence in a number of Central American countries and Colombia, have caused a significant increase in asylum applications, which numbered 118,000 in 2019. At the beginning of this year, 3,500 applications were received in just one week.
Is worrisome
The media often talks about migrants arriving at sea on a rickety boat, but asylum requests submitted by people coming through the airports of Spain do not find their luck from the media, which makes them one of the biggest challenges facing the country. The Spanish authorities carefully monitor the statistics, which arrive every week from the European Office for Refugee Support, and the numbers of concern. The interim figures, which the newspaper "El Pais" was able to monitor, indicate that November of last year, it broke all records with the arrival of approximately 3,600 asylum seekers per week. In the third week of January, 3,700 asylum applications were filed.
Spain did not witness this huge number of asylum applications, until 2015, the year in which the conflict in Syria pushed more than a million refugees to Europe. In that year, Germany received nearly 500,000 asylum requests, while Spain had only 15,000.
Asylum applications
The current asylum applications consist of 35% of Venezuela, 25% of Colombia, 5.8% of Honduras, 5% of Nicaragua and 4% of El Salvador. It is a homogeneous composition that is completely different from the refugees in Germany, Greece and France, where most of the asylum seekers are Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlasca says that when he assumed this position, in 2018, "the asylum office was in dire straits", and despite the support provided to the office, he was still on the verge of complete collapse. The office is working to settle asylum applications faster, but the year ended with 120,000 applications still pending. And the cases that must be accepted or rejected, within six months, take a year and a half in Spain. The amount of shelter that can be provided to asylum seekers is also not sufficient. Dozens of families would sleep in the streets of Madrid, had it not been for the solidarity of the citizens, activists and local residents.
The absence of alternatives, to obtain legal status in Spain, has transformed the residence facilities for asylum-seekers into housing for foreigners who are not recognized as refugees, as they should not be deported while processing their applications, and wait approximately for months, to consider their status.
Reforms to the refugee handling system are a priority for the European Union, as negotiations have begun to tackle the growing anti-immigration sentiment in a number of countries. The northern partners are demanding more control, while the frontline states (Spain, Italy and Greece) are calling for more solidarity to share the pressure of immigration.
At the same time, the new European system for managing the arrival of asylum-seekers will be tougher, and so-called "economic migrants" will be arrested and deported faster. "In these negotiations, the Spanish government can play a leadership role, by setting quality standards and designing a fair and flexible asylum system that allows a rapid identification of who needs international protection, and who does not need it," said Sophie Muller, UNHCR official.
Amid this European battle over border control, Spain is working on a new asylum law. The legislation has already caused tensions between the ruling Socialist Party and its coalition partner, Oneidas Bodemos, over proposals from the Interior Ministry, which adhere to stricter European Union policies, and the draft includes new grounds for rejecting applications.
Current asylum applications consist of: 35% from Venezuela, 25% from Colombia, 5.8% from Honduras, 5% from Nicaragua, and 4% from Salvador.
The interim figures, which the newspaper "El Pais" was able to monitor, indicate that November of last year, it broke all records with the arrival of approximately 3,600 asylum seekers per week. In the third week of January, 3,700 asylum applications were filed.