PARIS: Asylum claims in France hit a record 100,000 last year, official figures showed on Monday, as President Emmanuel Macron’s government draws up hotly-debated new legislation on immigration.

Officials said the rate of arrivals was “historic,” with Albanians forming the biggest group of applicants despite their country being considered safe by France.

“It confirms that France is one of the countries receiving the most asylum claims in Europe,” Pascal Brice, head of refugee protection agency Ofpra, told AFP.

“It’s a historic level,” he added, though he noted the numbers are just half of those seen in neighbouring Germany last year.

Macron’s government is preparing to unveil a bill on immigration next month, but his centrist Republique En Marche (Republic On The Move) party are divided on how to tackle the issue.

Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe have vowed to speed up the process for managing asylum requests and offering improved conditions for successful applicants.

Afghans made up the second biggest group last year with nearly 6,000 applications, followed by migrants from Haiti, Guyana and Sudan.

Applications from Syria were down 10 per cent to just over 3,000, though almost all of them were granted asylum.

Ofpra also reported a sharp rise in applications from francophone west Africa including Ivory Coast and DR Congo. Brice said they were part of the wave of migrants crossing to Europe from Libya.

In December, migrants’ rights groups heavily criticised a decision to take a census of the population of migrant shelters, saying this went against their mission to provide unconditional aid.

Though the notorious “Jungle” camp in Calais was dismantled in 2016, many migrants continue to head to the northern French coast hoping to reach Britain, an issue which will be on the agenda when Macron heads to London for talks later this month.