The number of irregular migrants arriving in Europe has reached its lowest level in five years, according to a report released yesterday by the European Commission.
In 2018, the EU countries recorded 150,000 illegal arrivals, 25% less than in 2017, and more than 90% below the level reached in the 2015 migration wave, the report says.
According to Vice-President Frans Timmermans “Europe has emerged from the migration crisis we experienced in 2015”. Structural problems remain, he said, and some routes are more crowded than they were before, but overall, the “joint actions” carried out since this period have made it possible to slow down the flow of migrants substantially.
The publication of this report comes 11 weeks before the first round of the European elections, which could be marked by a rise of far-right parties, fiercely opposed to immigration.
The European Commission is also taking the opportunity to publish a brochure aimed at unraveling a series of “myths” about migration.
It reads, among other things, that “Europe is no longer in a migratory crisis mode”, that “the European Union is neither an open door nor a fortress” and that there is “no secret plan for encourage undesirable migrations”.
