Irregular border crossings into EU down 42 per cent since January
The number of irregular border crossings at the European Union's external borders fell by 42 per cent in the first nine months of the year, according to preliminary figures published by Frontex on Tuesday.
Frontex recorded 166,000 attempts to enter the territory of the European Union illegally between January and September. In the same period last year, the European border agency counted nearly 280,000, the highest number since the 2016 refugee crisis.
The drop in the number of border crossings over the past nine months was mainly felt on the Western Balkan route, where border crossings fell by 79 per cent, and on the Central Mediterranean route to Italy, where they fell by 64 per cent.
In contrast, the number of crossings on the Eastern Mediterranean route to Greece increased by 15 per cent. Frontex recorded the largest increase on the eastern land route to Poland, where the number of border crossings increased by 192 per cent.
The number of crossings from West Africa to the Canary Islands also increased by 100 percent. Departures from the EU to the UK remained more or less stable, with an increase of 2 per cent.
An Italian Frontex border guard patrols the Bulgarian-Serbian border near the Serbian village of Gradina in 2023 © PHOTO NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV / AFP
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