European Union countries recorded nearly 330,000 irregular arrivals at their external border throughout 2022, up 64% from the previous year, when pandemic restrictions began to be relaxed, according to data provided by the common border and coast guard, Frontex agency, which puts this figure at 2016 levels.
The reactivation of the Western Balkan route, through which almost half of the irregular entries occurred, is the main cause of the sharp increase, explains the agency in a statement in which it also points out that only arrivals via the Western Mediterranean fell.
According to the data, one-fifth fewer entries were detected in 2022 via the Mediterranean route to southern Spain, with 14,582 irregular arrivals via the Western Mediterranean (down 21% from the previous year) and another 15,462 via the route reaching the Canary Islands from West Africa (down 31% from 2021).
Many of the migrants arriving by these routes are of sub-Saharan origin, mainly from Senegal, Guinea and Ivory Coast, although they were also detected from Algeria, Morocco and Syria, specifies Frontex.
In the case of the Balkan route, between January and December last year 145,600 people crossed the border irregularly into the EU, 136% more than in 2021, and they were mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and Tunisia.
A further 42,831 irregular migrants arrived via the eastern Mediterranean (+108%), more than double the previous year; and via the central Mediterranean inflows totaled 102,529 (+51%).
Of the total number, only 10% of the irregular crossings detected were women and another 9% were minors.
In addition to irregular crossings, the European Union has counted since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine the entry of 13 million refugees arriving from Ukraine and Moldova, but records also indicate that 10 million Ukrainians left again through the same borders.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
