Meeting of interior ministers: EU discusses rising refugee numbers

The EU interior ministers are discussing the increasing migration on the Balkan route today – according to Frontex, the number of irregular entries has recently increased significantly. The situation of the Ukraine refugees will also be discussed.

In view of the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities, it is expected that significantly more Ukrainians will flee west again in the coming months. For EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson, the most recent escalation shows “how important help and solidarity for the Ukrainians” is these days. At the same time, there is growing concern about an increase in the number of irregular migrants coming to Europe, mainly via the Western Balkans route.

Frontex published the latest figures for today’s meeting of interior ministers in Luxembourg. “According to preliminary calculations, over 228,000 irregular entries were detected at the external borders of the European Union in the first nine months of this year,” says Piotr Switalski, spokesman for the border protection agency. “This represents an increase of 70 percent compared to the same period last year and is the highest total recorded for the first three quarters of the year since 2016. The Western Balkans route remains the most active migration route into the EU.”

This will also be a key issue at today’s meeting. Measures are urgently needed to limit illegal entries, says MEP Lena Dupont. She is the domestic spokeswoman for the CDU/CSU group in the EU Parliament.

European refugee summit called for

One problem is that Serbia allows people from countries like India, Tunisia or Burundi to enter the country without a visa, and many of the migrants then make their way from there to the EU. That is why this meeting will also deal with strategies at EU level. Possibly also a European refugee summit, as many European domestic politicians are calling for.

For the left-wing MEP Cornelia Ernst, this is the wrong approach. “There can’t be first-class and second-class refugees,” she says. “And the question of another EU refugee summit to prevent the immigration crisis – I can only say one thing: the EU has already had enough deportation summits.”

Russian conscientious objectors are also an issue

Another topic will be how to deal with Russian conscientious objectors. So far, an average of 50,000 Russian citizens enter the EU every week. However, it is already foreseeable that the numbers will decrease in the near future due to the stricter visa policy of the EU and the Russian measures to prevent potential conscripts from leaving the country.