Frontex attributes substantial drop in illegal migrants to Europe this year to economic ills

Frontex, the EU’s border control agency, is attributing this year’s substantial drop in the number of irregular immigrants reaching European shores to the prevailing economic crisis.

However, the agency admitted that stricter controls on sea crossings, including the ones in place on the central Mediterranean route, forced immigrants to abandon their plans to travel to Malta or Italy from Libya and, instead, use land borders, particularly the one between Turkey and Greece.

Following the introduction of joint patrols between Italy and Libya in mid-2009, the number of illegal immigrants reaching Malta was substantially reduced. This year, no major landings have been reported.

Frontex warned the situation might not necessarily be the result of more surveillance but a consequence of fewer jobs available in the EU because of the crisis.

This announcement coincides with news that Libya and the European Commission have just struck a milestone cooperation agreement geared to help the North African country deal with illegal immigration. If implemented, the deal should have a positive effect on Malta as it would continue to stem the flow of illegal immigrants leaving Libya on rickety boats on their way to Europe.

Figures published by Frontex show a sharp drop in the number of illegal immigrants arriving in the EU, down from 53,674 in the first half of 2009 to 40,977 in the first half of this year, a drop of 23.6 per cent.

The number of illegal immigrants detected (mainly from Afghanistan, Asia and North Africa) was down 15 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared to the first three months. In the same period, the number of illegal immigrants living in the EU fell by 23 per cent and the number of asylum requests dropped by 21 per cent.

According to Frontex, the main entry point for illegal immigrants is the border between Greece and Turkey. More than half the illegal immigrants arrested are stopped at Orestiada, in the far northeast corner of Greece, in the Thrace region.

For the first time since it was set up in 2004, Frontex has funded and arranged a charter flight to take illegal immigrants back. Last week, 56 Georgians arrested in Poland, France, Austria and Germany were flown out of Warsaw.

Meanwhile, Frontex has just opened its first regional centre, in Athens, which will monitor the external borders of Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus.

EU Internal Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said the EU was prepared to provide financial aid to Greece to help it reform its asylum seeker system, which does not yet give any rights to asylum seekers.