The changing influx of asylum seekers in 2014-2016: Member State responses (Country Report Luxembourg)

Applications for international protection significantly increased in Luxembourg from August 2015 onwards, the total number of applications in fact more than doubling when compared to the previous year (2.447 applicants in 2015; 1.091 in 2014). The number of applications remained high in 2016 (2.035 applications) and 2017 (2.322 applications) albeit slightly decreasing when compared to 2015. These figures are not unprecedented. The number of applications introduced in Luxembourg have fluctuated since 1999, the peaks and declines correlating with specific events. Luxembourg received 2.920 applications for international protection in 1999, an effect of the conflict in Kosovo. Later, the country saw two more peaks in applications after the turn of the century (2003 and 2004 with 1.550 and 1.577 applications respectively, 2011 and 2012 with 2.171 and 2.057 applications respectively). On the other hand, 2005 to 2010 can be characterised as a period of relative calm.The current period of higher arrivals of applicants for international protection is characterised by a change in cultural profile. Previously, most of the time, a majority of people applying for international protection in Luxembourg stemmed from European countries. The influx of applicants in 2015 and 2016 was characterised by the arrival of people stemming from Arabic-speaking countries, populations which had been relatively small in Luxembourg up to that point.While not necessarily unprecedented in magnitude,high numbers of monthly arrivals, especially in the last months of 2015, put those in charge of registering applications as well as of housing and providing social follow-up to the test and led to a number of measures being taken.Generally speaking, fromthe beginning of the increased arrivals in Luxembourg in 2015, the government adopted a relatively open and welcoming position. This position is illustrated for instance in the government’s stance in favour of a solution for the reception of applicants for international protection that is based on European solidarity and the government’s investment in relocation and resettlement.