More than 410,000 requested asylum in EU from July to September

Luxembourg (dpa) - More than 410,000 people filed asylum requests in the European Union between the months of July and September - almost twice as many as during the previous three months - new data showed Thursday, with a third of claims being made by Syrians.The continent is experiencing its largest migration flows since World War II, with more than 900,000 migrants and asylum seekers having arrived since the start of the year.Public authorities have been overwhelmed by the surge of people, many of whom arrive from Turkey via Greece and cross the Western Balkans in an attempt to reach wealthy states such as Germany and Sweden. Not all manage to reach their destination.More than 50 per cent of asylum requests were made in Germany and Hungary between July and September, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat. Sweden was next in line, followed by Italy and Austria.Hungary received the highest number of asylum requests relative to its population size during that period, the data showed, ahead of Sweden which had previously been the frontrunner. Budapest began erecting border fences on September 15 to prevent further arrivals.Overall, almost 138,000 Syrians and 44,500 Iraqis requested protection in the EU during the third quarter of 2015 - more than three times as many as during the previous three months. The number of Afghans doubled to more than 56,500, Eurostat said.The data published Thursday counts people who were requesting asylum for the first time.Under EU rules, claims must be registered in the member state where asylum seekers first set foot. But some countries have struggled to register all arrivals, allowing people to continue their journeys unhindered.On Thursday, the European Commission sent formal letters to Greece, Croatia and Italy calling on them to fingerprint all asylum seekers and transmit the information to EU databases within 72 hours.It follows previous warnings sent to Athens, Zagreb and Rome."Two months later, concerns have not been effectively addressed," the EU‘s executive said.The civil war in Syria has swelled the number of migrants entering Europe and while the continent is keen to help genuine asylum seekers, last month‘s Paris attacks showed that some new arrivals were not being adequately checked.