European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Wednesday that the EU does not raise the question of how to stop migration flows, but how best to deal with them.
Speaking on Wednesday at a briefing at the EC, the European Commissioner briefly summed up the results of his five-year activity at his post, saying that the work done over the years has made it possible to better prepare the EC for future challenges in the field of migration.
According to him, the events in the north-east of Syria show that “we must always be prepared”. He also said that the elaboration of measures in the field of migration has not yet been completed, and “it will require a lot of effort and time”.
“But we must be honest: the phenomenon of migration will remain in the future, the question will never be how to stop it, but how best to deal with it”, – he said.
According to the EC, the number of illegal border crossings in the EU fell to 150 thousand in 2018, and this is the lowest figure for five years. The EC believes that this result has become possible,because of the the EU-Turkey agreement of 2016 on the provision of assistance to refugees in Turkish territory.
A report distributed on Wednesday noted that “further work is needed”, including strengthening border controls, as “in the coming years, migration will occupy an important place on the political agenda”.