(Camille Millerand/OFPRA.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Authorities in France are concerned over a sharp increase in asylum requests by Georgian and Albanian citizens, according to the influential French daily newspaper Le Figaro.

The paper based its report on information from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA).

In the first four months of 2019, asylum applications from Georgians grew by 86% to 3,548, compared to 1,898 applications filed over the same period in 2018.

In parallel, applications filed by Albanians have increased by more than 32%, from 2,321 of 2018 to 3,068 in 2019.

Le Figaro states that it had access to the latest data from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons. According to the document, altogether the organization registered 41,000 applications in the first four months of the year.