In the first quarter of 2018, the total number of irregular border crossings to Europe halved to 18,800, mainly because of lower migratory pressure on the Central Mediterranean route.
According to figures released Friday by Frontex, the EU border agency, in March, 6,200 irregular border crossings were detected on the four main migratory routes into the EU, down 63 percent from the same month of last year.
The total number of migrants detected arriving in Italy via the Central Mediterranean route in the first three months of 2018 fell to roughly 6,600. The drop represents a plunge of nearly three-quarters compared to a year ago.
In the first quarter of this year, more than 7,900 migrants entered the EU through the Eastern Mediterranean route, 30 percent more than in the same period of 2017. The increase was mainly caused a rise of irregular crossings on the land borders with Turkey.
In March, the number of irregular migrants taking the Eastern Mediterranean route, mainly reaching the Greek islands, stood at 3,700, 13 percent fewer than in the year-ago period.
Last month, the number of irregular migrants reaching Spain stood at nearly 900, in line with the figure from March 2017. In the first three months of 2018, there were 3,400 irregular border crossings on the Western Mediterranean route, also close to the level from a year ago.
The number of detections on the Western Balkan route remained relatively low in March, when roughly 100 migrants were detected, due to close cooperation on border control among the countries of the region, it said.
SOURCE: Kuwait News Agency
