Illegal migration set to rise

The illegal immigration problem faced by Malta and other southern EU states is set to grow in the coming years, European Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini warned yesterday.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the new headquarters of the EU border control agency Frontex in Warsaw, Poland.

"We cannot, unfortunately, expect the migratory pressures on the EU's southern maritime borders to ease in the near future. On the contrary, demographic statistical data indicate that migration is set to rise as the population of the 50 least developed countries is likely to more than double, from 800 million in 2007 to 1.7 billion in 2050," he said.

Frontex, set up just two years ago, is the EU's main tool to combat illegal migration.

The agency last year launched its first joint patrol missions, one of them just off the coast of Malta, in order to stem illegal migration.

Sources close to Frontex told The Times the agency, together with the Maltese government and a number of other EU member states, was working on a new patrol mission to be launched on the central Mediterranean route, also covering Malta.

It is hoped that this mission will start before summer, the season when illegal migration from North Africa reaches its peak.

Mr Frattini said the EU will remain vigilant and keep a lookout for any change in migratory routes towards the Union. The EU had just a few weeks ago set in motion a number of initiatives to boost the operational capacity of Frontex, he recalled.

"Next month, justice ministers will discuss the setting up of rapid border intervention teams and the setting up of a coastal patrol network," he said.

He announced that the Commission will, in May, unveil proposals for a new European surveillance system for all external land and maritime borders.

Mr Frattini said all these initiatives should lead to Frontex becoming the European flag flown by future European coast guards, who will have the duty to take a firm stance against illegal migration.