The number of asylum applications filed in Germany dropped last month to its lowest level for any May since 2012, according to a new report. A total of 5,566 applications were submitted across the country during the month, the newspaper Bild reported on Tuesday, citing figures from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. That total represented a decline of 30 percent compared with the same month a year earlier. Measured against May 2023, the fall was even steeper, reaching 75 percent.
A ministry spokesperson told AFP on Tuesday that this was the lowest number of asylum applications recorded in any May since May 2012, when 4,880 first-time applications were filed. The spokesperson stressed that the pandemic year of 2020 is not included in this comparison, as the exceptional circumstances caused by COVID-19 led to unusually low numbers of people entering the country.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, a member of the Christian Social Union, presented the development as evidence that his policy approach was working. "The migration turnaround is continuing," he told Bild. He said the government remained committed to its objectives, adding that the goal was still to manage migration effectively and to reduce the associated burdens further.
The decline in asylum applications in Germany has now been under way for several months. Analysts have recently pointed to the falling number of applications from Syria and Ukraine as one of the central reasons behind the pattern.
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