In 2016, Italy was second only to Germany in the number of appeals to asylum application denials, but it is also the highest out of seven member countries of the Council of Europe in terms of appeals process wait times. The appeals process in Italy takes 3.5 years (1,343 days) compared to over two years in second-highest Finland (769 days), and 1.5 years in Germany.
The figures were part of a report by the Council of Europe's European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).
Appeals have significant impact on 7 countries
For the first time, CEPEJ asked member states to provide information that could clarify "the impact that asylum request cases have on the judicial system and the right to enter and reside in a member state." The organisation said "the number of appeals after a denied asylum application had a significant impact on only seven (including Italy) of the 21 countries that provided information," because in each of those countries, the number of appeals surpassed 5,000.
In all, Italian courts received 53,462 appeals, compared to 181,996 in Germany and 39,986 in France. In France, courts have also received 28,511 appeals against decisions in which entrance or residency was denied.
Enormous differences in ability to manage appeals
The CEPEJ report revealed enormous differences in the ability of member countries to manage the appeals and the time needed to make a decision. The figures show that Italian courts have had the most difficulty in processing the appeals. The rate of "disposal", which is the ability to close cases within a year, is 27% in Italy. In order to be optimal the rate should be at least 100%, or higher, which would indicate that there is no backlog.
However, none of the countries except France surpassed 100%. Finland came in at 34%, Germany at 59%, Sweden at 62%, and Belgium and Switzerland both at 90%. CEPEJ said the situation in Italy is made more difficult by the time needed to make a decision.