Migration to EU likely to keep rising, says border chief

The head of the EU border agency Frontex has said halting migration would be “very difficult” and predicted the number of arrivals to continue to increase throughout the year.

Frontex executive director Hans Leijtens’s comments came as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez prepared to visit Mauritania, a major source of migrants to Europe.

With migration expected to be an important issue in the European Parliament elections in June, Mr Leijtens said it was unrealistic to expect a complete stop to irregular arrivals.

“Migration is a global phenomenon. We need to manage migration, because we can’t cope with unmanaged migration to Europe,” he said on Wednesday.

“But a full stop – for me, that seems very difficult, not to say impossible.”

Mr Leijtens emphasised the need for the orderly management of the EU’s external borders and called for an increase in aid to foreign countries.

Last year, Frontex recorded 380,000 irregular border crossings, the highest since 2016. The figure has grown each year since 2020, a trend Mr Leijtens predicted would continue.

“I don’t think there will be a new trend in terms of the numbers going down,” he said.

“I don’t want to sound very alarmist, but I think it’s an assumption that can be proven right.”

People fleeing from war have the right to asylum in the EU, which has given refuge to millions of Ukrainians since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

But the bloc wants to limit economic migration, when people enter Europe in the hope of finding better paid employment.

Frontex’s data for last month showed the Atlantic route was the busiest path for irregular migrants into the EU, accounting for about half of the almost 14,000 arrivals.

Anti-immigration sentiment has grown across the EU since more than a million people – mostly Syrian refugees – made the trip in 2015.

Spain’s Canary Islands reported a record number of arrivals last year, and migration was a key campaign issue before the country’s election in July.

Mr Leijtens said increasing the efficiency of returning failed asylum seekers was key to rebuilding public trust.

“A credible return operation is very important to show both to the inhabitants of Europe, but also to the migrants. If you don’t need our protection … you will be returned,” he said.