By Albert Link
New EU Zoff about the refugee rush across the Mediterranean!
A secret paper from the EU Commission (available to BILD) based on findings by the EU border protection agency Frontex shows: The influx of refugees across the Mediterranean increased by 300 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year.
The experts are particularly concerned that in Tunisia, in particular, the smugglers have an easy job of smuggling more and more migrants into Italy via the Mediterranean route. A highly dangerous undertaking that, according to the UN, has already cost the lives of 441 migrants this year.
300,000 refugees by summer?
The Frontex warning is clear: If the EU does not act, the number of refugees from the previous year (330,000) could be reached in the summer.
The EU Commission does not adopt this forecast as its own. But the fact is: 54,000 migrants were already registered via all routes together in 2023. On the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, among others, the reception centers are overcrowded, and Italy has declared a state of emergency.
According to the report, 57 percent of migrants now leave Tunisia. The country has thus replaced Libya as the main transfer country. Most of the refugees come from countries south of the Sahara.
Tourist visa to Tunisia
An explosive detail: Not all migrants come overland, more and more are arriving by plane. From Côte d’Ivoire, according to the Frontex report, “a significant number also use the air route to Tunis, given a three-month tourist entry permit upon arrival under a visa waiver program”.
How can the EU, bitterly divided over refugee issues, react? The conservatives in the European Parliament (European People’s Party, EPP) want to clarify this as quickly as possible. According to BILD information, they are requesting a topical debate on Monday to help Italy. However, socialists and liberals view the right-wing government in Rome with suspicion.
EPP boss Manfred Weber (50, CSU) calls for rapid action, says to BILD: “The EU is sleepwalking into a new migration crisis, although the rapidly increasing migration pressure is obvious.” It cannot be that the other EU countries look the other way when the situation escalates. Italy has opened its ports. Now applies: “We must not leave Italy alone.”
Weber’s core demand: “The EU must immediately negotiate a migration pact with Tunisia. Similar to the Turkey agreement, the gangs of people smugglers must be stopped together.”
In addition, the EU Commission must quickly negotiate new repatriation agreements: “Hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants are obliged to leave the country, but remain in the EU because their home country does not take them back. It can’t stay like this.”