The number of cases of illegal crossings of the European Union’s borders in the first quarter of 2025 decreased by more than 30 per cent, or 34,000, compared to the same period in 2024, POLITICO reports, citing data from the EU’s External Borders Security Agency (Frontex).
According to agency spokesman Chris Borowski, “It is clear that the downward trend from last year continues.”
The head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen earlier proposed to increase the number of Frontex employees from 10 to 30 thousand, as well as to provide the agency with modern means for monitoring. Some EU member states have asked the European Commission to introduce additional measures to prevent illegal border crossings in the southern parts of the EU.
Frontex started its operations in 2016. It is the first supranational service in the history of the European Union to have its own operational staff, including border police officers, whom the EU can deploy at the union’s external borders to enhance their protection.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday that Brussels was seeking to flood Europe with illegal migrants.
“While Hungary and Egypt are jointly fighting for peace in Europe and for an end to migration into Europe, Brussels is making increasingly serious management mistakes and consistently making wrong decisions by trying to prolong the war and attempting to flood Europe with migrants,” Szijjártó wrote on Facebook.
Sijjarto said Egypt had significantly curbed the flow of illegal migrants from North Africa. He called on the European Union to help Egypt to resolve the migration crisis.
