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MaltaToday 30 June 2021 MIDWEEK

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3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 30 JUNE 2021 NEWS KURT SANSONE ASYLUM applications in the EU dropped to their lowest since 2013 last year but Malta, Cyprus and Greece remained under the "greatest pressure", the European asylum agency said. The 485,000 asylum applica- tions received in the EU in 2020 marked a 32% decrease over the previous year, according to the European Asylum Support Office annual report released today. "Reduced applications were pri- marily due to restricted mobility and travel, rather than a decrease in the number of people in need of international protection," the agency said. It noted that two-thirds of all asylum applications in 2020 were lodged in just three coun- tries: Germany (122,000), France (93,000) and Spain (89,000). However, EASO said the impact of arrivals was heightened for countries at the external borders. "When considering GDP and population, Cyprus, Greece and Malta continued to be under the greatest pressure to receive and accommodate asylum appli- cants," the agency said. The data shows that Malta re- ceived 2,480 asylum applications last year, a drop of 39% over 2019 when it had received 4,090. The highest share of asylum ap- plications in Malta was from Su- danese nationals, which account- ed for 15%. Greece received 40,560 asy- lum applications, while Cyprus received 7,440. Italy received 43,770 asylum applications. The EASO reported that de- spite a drastic decrease in asylum applications, Romania and Bul- garia registered increases of 138% and 64% respectively. EASO said that Malta and oth- er member states like Belgium, France, Ireland and Spain contin- ued to lack reception capacity. Malta's reception centres came under fire from the Council of Europe's committee on the pre- vention of torture earlier this year, which found that they lacked decent living conditions. The EASO report notes that Italy had the largest increase in pending cases during 2020 (+6,900). Increases also took place in Romania (+1,300), Bul- garia (+1,100), Malta (+900) and Cyprus (+800). Malta had 5,140 pending asy- lum applications by the end of 2020. Just over two-fifths (42%) of all decisions granted in the EU gave some form of protection at first instance (224,000). Within the positive decisions issued by au- thorities, 50% of asylum seekers were granted refugee status, 27% humanitarian protection and 23% subsidiary protection. EASO said that restrictions caused by the pandemic had an impact on asylum processes but member states adapted their asylum procedures, including through the use of digital tools in the face of national public health emergencies. However, the pandemic brought to a near standstill other areas of the Common European Asylum System. "For the first time in seven years, the EU's resettlement pro- gramme, which provides a safe and structured pathway to pro- tection, experienced a significant decrease (-58% from 2019) in the number of refugees transferred to Europe. By the end of the year, most countries had not met their national quotas and postponed their allocations to the following year. However, countries contin- ued their efforts through remote interviews and dossier selec- tions," EASO said. Malta faced 'greatest pressure' despite drop in asylum applications, EU report finds CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "Up until last year, we had 21 cases of money laundering taken to court, and we have to compare them to the nine of the previous year, and the 10 of year before," Gafà said. "This shows that the police corps has not only strengthened its human resources, but showed its work in the outcome of those investigations." Asked on prosecutions, and whether the police were effective enough, the police commissioner said the corps works in synergy with other entities such as the Attorney General and the courts. "We are working in synergy with a number of entities in the country to ensure the police's work reaches a con- clusion, and I am the first one to admit that we want to see more convictions," he said. "We have to understand that money laundering cases are complex to investigate." Gafà pointed out that in the last months, the police corps had strength- ened its partnership with the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and other entities. "There is always room to im- prove." On whether intelligence provided by the FIAU was sufficient when investi- gating money laundering cases, Gafà pointed out that intelligence alone is not enough to have convictions. "Intelligence is what shows you where you should focus in an ocean of information, and that is the FIAU's job – to point you towards where you should look. Than it is the police's job to translate that intelligence into evi- dence," he said. 30 cases of money laundering were brought to Court in 2021 so far

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