Building walls and putting barbed wire around the European Union is not a good solution for many reasons, and physical infrastructure refers to elements such as border control, not fences or walls, because EU funds need to be used for the best way in order to protect the state.
This was said by European Commission Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson in an interview for news agencies that are members of the European Newsroom, of which Fena is a member, speaking ahead of the migration summit that should be held in Brussels on February 9 and 10.
Johansson warned that the number of irregular entries increased last year from three directions, including the Western Balkan route, by as much as a third more entries were recorded last year.
When asked what the European Union can do to prevent the accumulation of migrants on the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, especially after Croatia became a Schengen member, Johansson said that she was not aware of any new problems in this regard.
She added, however, that the EU previously helped BiH when it comes to the reception of migrants and accommodation facilities, and it also helps with the return of migrants to their home countries, which has proven to be effective in both voluntary and forced returns.
She also says that she spoke with the former security minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Selmo Cikotić, who said that when some migrants were returned to their countries, the number of arrivals from those countries decreased significantly.
– Therefore, the return of migrants to their home countries is a very effective method for preventing illegal arrivals, and we should continue to do so in the countries of the Western Balkans – she added.
She underlined that significant funds will be allocated for the countries of the Western Balkans in order to unite research teams and provide an appropriate answer to the issue of migrant smuggling.
The new mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) is currently being negotiated with Western Balkan partners, including BiH, which should be completed soon, says Johannson.
“Then we would be able to distribute the FRONTEX forces to the borders between the countries of the Western Balkans, and not only to the EU’s external borders. This would help to adequately respond to illegal migration via the Western Balkans route,” the commissioner believes.
Speaking about the response to the increase in the number of illegal migrants last year, Johannson emphasized the importance of the European Commission and EU member states working together to deal with these problems.
She also presented some data on the situation with migrants, saying that last year 330,000 illegal entries into the EU were recorded, but not from countries affected by war or where the population is threatened with persecution, but leaving their countries for other reasons.
She stated that most citizens come from Turkey, Georgia, India, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Bangladesh and Pakistan, that is, citizens of countries for which the EU has a low rate of approved asylum applications compared to the total number of applications received.
At the same time, he says, there were almost a million asylum requests last year, which is three times more than the number of illegal entries into the EU. This shows that many of those who seek asylum enter EU countries legally using an entry visa and then apply for asylum.
“This created pressure on many countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium, which have too many people in reception centers and the asylum system, even though it is known that many of them will not be approved for asylum,” Commissioner Johansson further clarified, adding that 39 percent of applications were approved in last year
When it comes to returning migrants to their countries of origin, last year around 300,000 were ordered to do so, but only 70,000 returned, says Johansson, and the process is important to show that this is not the way to come and stay in the EU.
