EU warns migration system could ‘completely break down’ in 10 days
EU warns migration system could ‘completely break down’ in 10 days. The European migrant crisis or European refugee crisis began in 2015, when a rising number of refugees and migrants made the journey to the European Union to seek asylum, travelling across the Mediterranean Sea, or through Southeast Europe. They came from areas such as Western and South Asia, Africa, and the Western Balkans. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as of February 2016, the top three nationalities of the over one million Mediterranean Sea arrivals since January 2015 are Syrian (48%), Afghani (21%) and Iraqi (9%). Most of the refugees and migrants are adult men (57%), 17% are women and 27% are children. The phrases “European migrant crisis” and “European refugee crisis” became widely used in April 2015, when five boats carrying almost 2,000 migrants to Europe sank in the Mediterranean Sea, with a combined death toll estimated at more than 1,200 people. According to Eurostat, EU member states received 626,000 asylum applications in 2014, the highest number since the 672,000 applications received in 1992, and granted protection status to more than 185,000 asylum seekers. The number of asylum applications doubled to 1,221,855 in 2015. Four states – Germany, Sweden, Italy, and France – received around two-thirds of the EU’s asylum applications and granted almost two-thirds of protection status in 2014; while Sweden, Hungary, and Austria were among the top recipients of EU asylum applications per capita. https://mobile.twitter.com/BreakingNe…