EU countries are again carrying out more deportations

The numbers of deportations to third countries and within the European Union are on the rise, according to figures published by the EU's statistics office Eurostat on Monday, reported dpa.

96,550 non EU-citizens were ordered to leave an EU country in the second quarter of 2022, and a total of 23,110 were returned including deportations within the bloc.

That is a 15% increase in orders to leave and an 11% increase in deportations compared to the same period in 2021, according to the data release.

France ordered 33,450 people to depart its territory, followed by Greece (8,750), Germany (8,275) and Italy (6,020).

France also carried out the most returns (3,590) in the second quarter of 2022, ahead of Germany (2,765), Sweden (2,380) and Greece (1,770).

Albanians represented the highest number of nationalities returned to another country, with Georgians, Russian and Turks following in the ranking, according to Eurostat.

Deportations had dropped significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Germany, for example, carried out 760 deportations during the second quarter of 2020, compared to 9920 in the same period of 2019, according to Eurostat.

Under EU law, people who enter the EU are not always allowed to travel freely within the bloc depending on their visa or asylum status, leading to deportations within the bloc.