3.4.3.3. Additional staff

Several first instance determining authorities, such as the CGRS in Belgium, the Asylum Service in Cyprus, the International Protection Office in Ireland and the International Protection Agency in Malta hired or were in the process of hiring additional staff to address the backlog of applications, reduce processing times and speed up the examination procedure. 

At the same time, some new staff may not have received enough training for the role. For example, ASGI criticised the adoption of Law Decree No 20/2023 in Italy, which introduced the possibility to address staff shortages in the determining authority by using officers of the local prefecture. The organisation noted that these officers may not have specific expertise or training in the field of international protection. The Italian authorities stated that the law specifically requires new staff to be adequately trained, and accordingly, the National Asylum Commission launched a structured training programme for newly-appointed officials, with EUAA support.