European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos called on Wednesday 16 May for vigilance to be maintained on migratory flows towards the European Union.
Although, in terms of arrivals, the situation is stable, the commissioner highlighted a number of recent “peaks” in migrants arriving, particularly in the Western Mediterranean. On this route, 6,623 arrivals have been recorded in Spain since January 2018 (22 % higher than in the first months of 2017).
At the border between Greece and Turkey, the trend is upward and an increase in arrivals of Turkish nationals has been noted. Although still “drastically lower than before the EU-Turkey Statement, arrivals from Turkey have seen a significant increase since March 2018”, the Commission states, both to the Greek islands (9,349 since the beginning of 2018) and via the land border (6,108 so far in 2018 – nine times more than during the same period in 2017).
According to recent figures from Frontex, the number of irregular arrivals by the Eastern Mediterranean route was 3,700 for the month of March, down 13% on March 2017. In all, in the first quarter of 2018, over 7,900 people have arrived from Turkey, 30% more than in the same period last year. Syrians and Iraqis make up the largest national groups among the new arrivals.
Along the Western Balkans route, increased movements through Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina have been reported in recent months.
Downward trend in Central Mediterranean. During the first months of 2018, the downward trend of 2017 has continued in the Central Mediterranean with arrival figures around 77% lower than those recorded in the same period in 2017.
The situation remains “fragile”, Commissioner Avramopoulos said, calling on member states to redouble efforts on monitoring the EU’s external borders and also on continuing the resettlement of refugees from third countries.
He called on the member states to strengthen the numbers of the European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex), which currently deploys 1,350 staff on the ground. He also urged the member states to make greater use of the agency’s new powers in terms of returns. Only 36.6% of decisions to return irregular migrants were effectively implemented in 2017.
On this point, the Commission notes that the situation in Greece and on the Greek islands remains one of great concern. It calls on Greece to accelerate the pace of returns to Turkey of migrants who have no right to protection in the EU and, at the same time, to speed up procedures for handling asylum requests.
Avramopoulos said that, under the EU’s new resettlement scheme, 20 member states had already pledged more than 50,000 places for refugees, including those located in Africa travelling along the route to Libya. He said he wanted half of these commitments to be turned into reality by October. Thus far, 4,252 transfers have already taken place.
Council agreement on asylum reform hoped for in June. The commissioner did not, however, elaborate on reform of the asylum system or the sensitive issue in the Dublin regulation which provides arrangements for relocation in other member states. This issue has entered a phase of intense negotiation within the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 12020).
He simply expressed the hope that the heads of state and/or government would reach agreement at the European summit in June. He also stressed that the Dublin chapter was not the only thing and that member states must maintain their efforts on other aspects of migration policy, such as the policy on return and resettlement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)