Migrants are laying siege to two main secret routes into Europe through the Mediterranean and Balkan regions, with 17 percent more detected illegal crossings than two years ago.
The European Union’s agency for border control, Frontex, said the Central Mediterranean and Balkan routes are the two most active inroads taken by migrants and refugees to enter the bloc.
The data overview, published on Tuesday, including all the irregular border crossings at the EU’s external borders detected in 2023, says the Western Balkan route remains the second-most used route, with 99,068 irregular crossings detected.
However, that number was a 31 percent decrease compared to the number in 2022. Meanwhile, the Eastern Mediterranean Route, from Turkey to Greece, including Bulgaria and Northern Cyprus, saw a significant rise in irregular crossings of 55 percent, making a total of 60,073.
On the EU’s total external border, Frontex detected some 380,000 irregular crossings, a significant jump compared to 2022, mainly due to a rise in arrivals via the Mediterranean region.
On Friday a Moldovan national who was driving a van packed with migrants was arrested in Croatia following a car chase in the capital, Zagreb.
A police patrol tried to stop the van on the highway outside the city but the 31-year-old driver instead rushed through the pay toll ramp, said a statement.
Officers called in reinforcements while following the van safely through Zagreb, they said. They set up a roadblock where the van eventually slammed into a police car and stopped.
It was not clear how long the chase lasted. The van was carrying 32 foreign nationals, two of whom were slightly injured in the accident, police said.
Migrants from the Middle East, Africa or Asia come to Croatia while trying to reach Western Europe along the so-called Balkan land route that leads from Turkey to Greece or Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia.
On their journeys, which often last for months or even years, migrants cross borders without authorisation and often with the help of people smugglers.
Frontex said in a statement this week that a mission had started in Moldova, and joint operations were launched in North Macedonia.
The agency said the number of irregular border crossings at the EU’s external border in 2023 reached a total of approximately 380,000, driven by a rise in arrivals via the Mediterranean region. Syrians accounted for over 100,000 irregular crossings last year, the highest number among all nationalities. They were followed by Guineans and Afghans. These three top nationalities accounted for over a third of all detections.
Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens said: “The numbers presented today show the evolving challenges we face in managing the EU’s external borders.
“We remain committed to ensuring the security and integrity of the EU’s borders. It’s equally crucial to address the humanitarian aspects of migration. These figures represent not just statistics but real people.”
