Three primary routes of migration flows arrive in Europe:

  • The Eastern Mediterranean route has been used for many years as an entry path into Europe, and saw the continent’s biggest migratory wave since Second World War when 885,000 migrants used it to reach the EU in 2015.
  • The Central Mediterranean route, stretching between North Africa and Italy has been used for hundreds of thousands of migrants in recent years.
  • Flows through the Western Mediterranean route, stretching across the sea between Spain and Morocco, have increased significantly. This path has also been the main route used by criminal networks to smuggle drugs into the Europe.
According to the European Agenda on Migration, the overall migratory situation across all routes has returned to pre-crisis levels with arrivals in September 2019 being around 90% lower than in September 2015. Nonetheless, new challenges abound for the EU.
 
3 key challenges that were identified, were the following:
 
  • Urgent action to improve the conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean
  • More solidarity on Search and Rescue
  •  Accelerate evacuations from Libya

More infromation is available in the European Commission Migration and Affairs article, here.

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