BRUSSELS, May 15. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The European Union registered in the first four months of this year close to 80,700 irregular arrivals to its territory -30 percent more than in the same period of the previous year-, an increase that is due to the record number of entries through the Central Mediterranean and despite the fact that the rest of the illegal routes registered significant falls, according to the latest data offered by the European border and coast guard (Frontex).
Specifically, during the first four months of 2023, the EU countries registered nearly 42,200 illegal entries through the central Mediterranean, which represents half of the total number of irregular arrivals in the whole of the European Union at that time.
According to Frontex, the mafias increasingly use metal boats that they assemble within a few hours of leaving and that are later towed by fishing vessels to the nearest European coasts, mainly the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The rest of the irregular routes to the European Union have registered decreases, from 4 percent less illegal transit from the United Kingdom to the 47 percent drop that occurred in one of the main routes to Spain, the one that leads to the islands Canaries from West Africa, or the 15 percent drop from the West Mediterranean route.
The second most used route, although it also registered a drop of 21 percent compared to the same four-month period of the previous year, is that of the Western Balkans, through which between January and April of this year a little more than 22,500 migrants arrived in the EU without permission.
