Detected irregular migration into the European Union dropped by 42 percent, totaling 166,000 in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same timeframe last year. This decline, reported by the EU border agency Frontex on Tuesday, aligns with the EU and several member states adopting tougher immigration policies amid pressure from extreme right parties that made significant gains in the summer EU elections.
Frontex noted a marked decrease in asylum seeker crossings on two key migration routes—the Central Mediterranean and the Western Balkans—during January to September. The agency reported nearly 17,000 individuals entered the EU via the Western Balkans, representing a 79 percent year-on-year decrease. Approximately 47,700 crossed the bloc’s borders through the Central Mediterranean route, indicating a 64 percent drop.
Conversely, border crossings via the Western African route doubled, with over 30,600 entries recorded in the first nine months of the year. The most significant increase occurred at the EU’s eastern land borders, particularly in Poland, where nearly 13,200 crossings were detected, marking a 192 percent rise.
The reduction in irregular migration coincides with the rise of populist and nationalist political parties across much of Europe, as evidenced by their strong performances in recent EU elections. This political climate has prompted many EU states to enforce stricter immigration policies.
On Tuesday, a group of 16 migrants boarded an Italian navy ship bound for Albania, marking the first trip under Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s controversial scheme to process migrants’ asylum claims outside the EU. Meloni’s right-wing government has also established a deal with Tunisia, providing aid in exchange for increased efforts to prevent refugees from leaving the North African nation to cross the Mediterranean.
Additionally, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to strengthen legislation aimed at expediting the removal of individuals who do not qualify to remain in the EU.
“The EU’s migration policy can only be sustainable if those who do not have the right to stay in the EU are effectively returned,” von der Leyen stated in a letter to EU leaders. “However, only around 20 percent of third country nationals ordered to leave have actually returned,” she added.
The proposed law will clarify the obligations of returnees and streamline the return process. Poland and its Central European neighbor, the Czech Republic, recently called for EU restrictions that are more stringent than those outlined in the bloc’s new migration and asylum pact, set to take effect in 2026. The rules, adopted in May, aim to distribute the responsibility for hosting asylum seekers across the 27 EU countries and accelerate the deportation of those deemed ineligible to stay.
Meanwhile, the far-right governments of Hungary and the Netherlands have requested exemptions from migration obligations. Poland’s center-right government surprised many last week by announcing its plans to temporarily suspend the right to claim asylum. Warsaw cited the flow of migrants across its eastern border—allegedly encouraged by Belarus as part of hybrid warfare—as a security risk.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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