EU Leaders To Participate In Inter-Parliamentary Conference On Migration On Thursday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2020) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, are set to speak at the High-level Inter-parliamentary Conference on Migration and Asylum in Europe that is scheduled to take place in Brussels on Thursday.

The conference, which looks to assess the future nature of migration and asylum processes in Europe and the EU's partnerships with third countries, is scheduled to begin at 10:00 local time (09:00 GMT).

Wolfgang Schaeuble, the president of the German Bundestag, and Portuguese parliamentary president Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues are also expected to take part in proceedings.

The high-level talks will take place amid the marked surge in migrants and asylum seekers arriving on Spain's Canary Islands seen over recent weeks. As many as 16,000 migrants have made the seaborne journey from Africa to the Canary Islands throughout 2020 to date, more than 10 times the total registered in 2019.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, 84,340 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, and Malta using land and sea routes from Turkey and North Africa throughout 2020 so far. Last year, this figure totaled 123,663.