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Germany is no longer the number-one destination for asylum seekers in the EU after the end of the Assad regime led to a drop in Syrians applying for protection in the bloc, a report confirms.
The EU’s asylum system is undergoing a “significant shift” following the fall of Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad from power in December, according to an unpublished report by the EU Agency for Asylum seen by the Financial Times.
The Malta-based agency recorded 64,000 asylum claims in the EU in May — the latest period available — marking a decline of nearly a quarter compared with the same month in 2024. This was led by an “extremely abrupt” drop in Syrian applications, which fell from roughly 16,000 in October last year to just 3,100 in May, the EUAA found.
In Germany, a destination popular with Syrian applicants, overall asylum claims in May dropped by about half to 9,900, from 18,700 filed the same month last year.
Spain is now the country with the highest number of asylum applications, according to the report, with almost 12,800 recorded in May, down from 16,300 last year. While the overall number has declined, there had been an increase of applications in Spain from people fleeing Venezuela and the “severe economic and political crisis” in the country, the EUAA said.
The trend could also be linked to the US’s clampdown on immigration, including deportations of Venezuelans, it said.
For the past decade, Syrians had been the largest group of asylum seekers in the EU, plus Norway and Switzerland, “but at the beginning of 2025 this trend reversed with Syrian applications dropping sharply”, the report says.
“Since February Germany has no longer been the top EU+ destination; Spain, Italy and France all received more applications in May 2025,” the agency writes.
Italy now receives the second highest number of applications, with 12,300 claims in May, down from 15,500 last year, a third of which were filed by Bangladeshis and Peruvians. In third place is France with 11,900 claims, slightly below last year’s 12,500, which were driven by applications from Congolese fleeing conflict in their home country, as well as Afghans and Haitians.
The report comes as a growing number of European countries are clamouring for harsher measures to curb irregular migration to the continent, with several countries, such as Denmark, looking for ways to deport people to countries that are not their home as a deterrent.
Earlier this month, the EU’s migration commissioner, Magnus Brunner, led a mission to Libya following an increase in the number of arrivals via the politically unstable country, particularly in Greece. However, the trip, to ask Libyan authorities to stem departures, had to be cut short after he was asked to leave.
The EUAA highlighted that the downturn in asylum figures driven by Syrians was “likely not due to any asylum policy changes” by European governments but “rather, the shift likely reflects changing circumstances in Syria”.
In December, the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ousted Assad, ending his rule and Syria’s brutal 13-year civil war. Following the regime change, many EU countries had put the processing of asylum claims by Syrians on hold but were still technically accepting the lodging of new claims, the EUAA said.
Despite the changes in the distribution of new applications, Germany likely remains the country with the largest population of asylum seekers as it has accepted many more claims than other countries in recent years.
Germany has granted asylum to 150,000 applicants between 2008 and 2024, compared with about 50,900 in Spain, 40,000 in Italy and 65,200 in France, according to Eurostat.
Additional reporting by Amy Kazmin in Rome and Leila Abboud in Paris
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