The European Union and Egypt are engaged in negotiations to strengthen their cooperation in fighting against illegal migration to Europe, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday.
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2018) The European Union and Egypt are engaged in negotiations to strengthen their cooperation in fighting against illegal migration to Europe, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday."I would like to thank you for a good cooperation in the fight against illegal migration. Egypt and the European Union has entered good negotiations to intensify this cooperation. But Egypt has already been preventing people to travel from Egypt to Europe illegally," Kurz said at a press conference following a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi.
According to the Austrian chancellor, the central migration route in the Mediterranean is de-facto closed.
"There have been no migrant arrivals to Italy in recent weeks. This means not only that we have become better at maintaining order in Europe. In this way, the basis for the business of migrant smuggling [in the Mediterranean Sea] are being destroyed," Kurz stressed.
Since 2015, Europe has been facing an acute migration crisis, with scores of refugees arriving there, fleeing conflicts and poverty in the middle East and North Africa. Austria is among the European countries willing to reduce the influx of migrants.
