BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — The latest on the mass movement of asylum-seekers and others seeking refuge in Europe. All times local:
7 p.m.
Nordic immigration officials have reported a recent drop in the number of asylum-seekers arriving in the region, likely caused by stricter border controls, ID checks and tighter conditions for granting residency.
Sweden, which recently reversed its lenient asylum policies including canceling permanent residence permits for some groups and limiting the rights of family reunification, said some 6,100 asylum-seekers arrived last week, down from 8,550 the previous week and 10,500 during the second week of November.
Norwegian immigration officials reported Monday that last week’s asylum-seekers fell to 969 from 2,108 the previous week and more than 2,500 a week earlier.
In Finland, the numbers also fell— to 1,600 asylum-seekers during the past two weeks, from some 4,000 during the first two weeks of November.
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5:15 p.m.
Slovakia is giving asylum to a group of 149 Christians who live in Iraq and are threatened by extremism.
Interior Minister Robert Kalinak says the 25 families will arrive in the country in next few days. Kalinak says that “they would lose their lives if we didn’t help them.”
The families will be initially placed in a center in eastern Slovakia and the Catholic Church has agreed to help them integrate into society in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Slovakia strictly opposes a European Union plan to redistribute 120,000 asylum-seekers among the bloc’s 28 nations.
The government of Prime Minister Robert Fico is planning to a legal complaint against it at an EU court in Luxembourg.
Kalinak said Monday the complaint could be filed as soon as later this week.
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