What Happened: ⁤the Decline in Asylum Requests

Asylum requests to the European Union, Switzerland and Norway fell by 23 ⁤percent ⁣in the⁣ first ⁣six months of⁢ 2025, driven by a massive drop ‍in⁤ Syrians seeking protection, new EU data showed Monday.

Similarly, irregular border crossings detected into the 27-nation bloc were down 20 percent in the same period, according to EU border agency Frontex, with arrivals via the Balkans sharply down.

The Political Context: Pressure for⁣ Tougher Measures

But nonetheless of the picture the data paints, with right and hard-right parties ascendant across⁣ the ⁤bloc, the pressure to‍ get tough on migration has‍ never been higher.

“At the political level, there’s this sense that ⁢we have to respond to citizens’ concerns” on migration,” summed ⁣up Camille Le Coz, director‍ of the Migration Policy Institute Europe think tank.

for ⁣parties pushing a hard line, a fall in migrant arrivals ⁢only deals with part of the problem.

“It⁢ cannot be the only parameter to take into account,” Fabrice Leggeri, the former ⁢head of Frontex, now a European‍ lawmaker with France’s far-right National rally ⁤party, told AFP.

“An increase in returns” is also needed, he contended.

Currently,fewer⁢ than 20 percent of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin,according to EU data.

The EU Migration Pact and Future Legislation

The European Union struck a landmark migration pact last year due to come⁣ into force in 20