Gattiker believes that Covid-related economic and political problems in other countries could prompt a wave of asylum requests from next year.
Keystone / Peter Klaunzer
The coronavirus pandemic has been identified as the reason for a significant decline in requests for asylum in Switzerland. The number of applications stood at 11,041 at the start of this year, compared to around 16,000 at the same point in 2020.
This content was published on
2 minutes
swissinfo.ch/mga
The head of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), Mario Gattiker, told the newspaper BlickExternal link on Monday that the drop in applications had saved his office CHF160 million ($181 million) last year.
Many countries, including Switzerland, shut down or tightened their borders in 2020 to try and contain the spread of the virus. Transport links were also severely disrupted.
But Gattiker believes that Covid-19 will result in an increase in asylum seeker numbers between 2022 and 2025. “There is likely to be increased migration due to coronavirus-related economic downturn in many regions and resulting domestic political tensions. In the medium term, we must therefore assume a significant increase in asylum numbers across Europe,” he told Blick.
“Numerous international organisations in the field of migration also expect such increases when the pandemic comes to an end. It is difficult right now to estimate by how much. But we have to keep an eye on this and prepare well.”
Last autumn, some asylum centres in Switzerland warned that they had nearly reached capacity. This was the result of an uptick in migration numbers between pandemic waves, combined with centres having to operate social distancing rules.
Gattiker said there are currently 2,500 beds free at asylum centres. This is enough to process some 15,000 applicants over the course of the year. There is a contingency plan in place to boost the number of beds to 8,000 to cope with more than 30,000 applicants, Gattiker added
Popular Stories
More
Climate adaptation
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Swiss researchers sequence genome of 1918 Spanish flu virus
This content was published on
Researchers from the Universities of Basel and Zurich (UZH) have sequenced the genome of the Spanish flu virus, thanks to a sample taken from an 18-year-old Swiss boy who died in the city on the Limmat in 1918, when the pandemic spread around the world.
Swiss martyr beatified in Barcelona by Catholic Church
This content was published on
François-Benjamin May (1870-1909), a member of the Marist Brothers congregation, has been recognised as a 'blessed' by the Catholic Church.
Prevention and tech could help save billions on Swiss healthcare costs, says Deloitte
This content was published on
By focusing on prevention and technology, it would be possible to reduce Switzerland's healthcare bill by CHF30 billion a year by 2040, according to Deloitte Switzerland.
Environment director warns of increasing climate-related risks in Switzerland
This content was published on
The director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has warned of increasing climate-related risks in Switzerland in an interview with SonntagsBlick on Sunday.
Gotthard traffic queue hits 11km at start of holiday season
This content was published on
The start of the summer holidays saw a long traffic jam in front of the Gotthard tunnel on Saturday. Traffic jams between Erstfeld and Göschenen in canton Uri were up to 11 kilometres long early in the morning.
This content was published on
The water temperature of the Rhine River could rise by up to 4.2° degrees Celsius by the end of the century due to the warming planet, scientists warn.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.