Brussels, 23/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 22 February, the agency Frontex reported that the number of migrants arriving in Greece in January 2016 was down 40% compared to December 2015, to stand at 68,000, a drop which is largely imputed to poor weather conditions in the Aegean Sea, the agency responsible for cooperation in the management of the external borders of the EU explained.
Even so, this figure is still 38 times higher than the number of arrivals recorded in January 2015, the agency observes, going on to state that the bad weather in January 2016 also caused an increase in the number of accidents and deaths at sea.
According to Frontex, Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis continued to be the most represented nationalities in January 2016 among persons arriving in Greece.
As regards the central Mediterranean route, poor weather conditions also brought arrivals down by 42% in January. 5,600 people reached Italy via this route, a figure 55% higher than in January 2015, according to Frontex.
On the Western Balkans route, the number of persons detected was down a third compared to December, Frontex reports, to stand at 65,300. Most of these migrants came in via Greece, then went via the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Frontex explains that this means that some people were counted twice, for instance upon arrival in Greece and then again when they entered Croatia.
Migratory flows will again be on the agenda of the home affairs ministers of the EU meeting in Brussels on 25 February, with particular emphasis on flows from Turkey. The Turkish home affairs minister, Efkan Ala, will join his opposite numbers for lunch. According to one diplomat, the aim will be to return to “acceptable” levels of arrivals, with the European leaders having stated in their conclusions of Thursday 19 February that flows from Turkey were still “far too high”.
According to the IOM, 102,547 people have arrived in Greece since the start of 2016, according to figures published on 23 February, and 413 people have lost their lives. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)