The relaxation of the corona restrictions in many countries has increased the number of illegal border crossings. The people smuggler networks are also increasingly active again.
The number of unauthorized border crossings into the EU on the main migration routes increased by 59 percent in the first half of the current year compared to the same period of the previous year.
A total of around 61,000 cases had been registered by the end of June, as the EU border protection agency Frontex announced in Warsaw. The agency cites the reason for the increase that a year ago corona restrictions still applied in many countries, which have now been relaxed.
The strongest increase in the first six months of the current year was on the Western Balkans route. The number here was 18,600 – 92 percent more than in the same period in 2020.
In June, the number of illegal border crossings rose, particularly on the route across the central Mediterranean to Malta and Italy. 4,700 illegal border crossings were recorded here – twice as many as in June 2020. Frontex attributes this to the fact that the people smuggler networks in Libya and Tunisia have resumed their activities.
There was little change on the route across the western Mediterranean to Spain. The number for June was 870 – about the same as in the same month last year.
On the route across the eastern Mediterranean – i.e. via Turkey and Greece – the number of illegal border crossings fell to 1,110 in June. In the entire first half of the year it was 7,340, 40 percent less than in the same period last year.
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