The number of asylum applications filed in the country surged by 890 per cent year-on-year to 32,500 in 2015, according to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).

Finland would not be able to manage if the inflow of asylum seekers rebounded to the levels of 2015 for an extended period of time, President Sauli Niinistö admitted at Suomi Areena, a public debate event held annually in Pori, on Thursday.

Niinistö on Thursday addressed the concerns of some citizens that asylum seekers enjoy more generous social security benefits than Finns.

“I doubt that asylum seekers are receiving any more than others,” he said to MTV. “But I do appreciate the concerns in the sense that it’d have an impact on our entire economy if what we witnessed in 2015 were to re-occur. Tens of thousands [of asylum seekers]. Our reception capacity is not sufficient to cope with that in the long term.”

Niinistö broached on the same subject in his speech at the opening ceremony of the parliamentary session of 2016, a fact that he acknowledged in Pori on Thursday.

“I drew attention to the same dilemma and voiced my hope that the EU as a whole would take action instead of all EU countries competing on which is the most unpleasant destination for the arriving people,” he commented.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT

Photo: Martti Kainulainen – Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi