BRUSSELS: Asylum applications to the EU dropped to a five-year-low in the first half of 2026, continuing a downward trend partly brought about by a hardening of migration policy, the bloc’s asylum agency said Thursday. The European Union plus Switzerland and Norway (EU+) received 332,000 applications for international protection from January to June, 17 percent fewer than in the same period last year. “This is the lowest number recorded in the first half of a year since 2021,” the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) said. The agency attributed the decrease to the political transition in Syria, which has resulted in a massive drop in applications filed by the country’s nationals, as well as to the EU’s “efforts in cooperating with countries of origin and transit”. Brussels has recently struck deals with Northern African countries including Tunisia and Mauritania, providing aid and investments in return for help with migration. War in the Middle East had also not translated into a feared increase in applications from the countries affected, the EUAA said. Afghans were the largest group of applicants, with 39,000 requests for protection, followed by Venezuelans and Bangladeshis. Less than a third of applications processed in the first six months of the year were successful, the agency said, noting that this was due to have an impact on future requests. Under rules that came into force in June, applicants from countries that have a recognition rate of less than 20 percent undergo an expedited procedure linked to swift deportation in case of rejection. The same is true for applicants from countries the EU deems “safe”. “In the first half of 2026, nearly 56 percent of applications were from citizenships meeting one or more of these criteria,” the EUAA said. Among EU nations, France received the highest number of applications (69,000), followed by Italy (66,000), Spain (55,000) and Germany (55,000). With 23,000 requests Greece was the country that received the most applications per capita.