EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Wednesday that migration to the bloc will never stop and EU states must focus on finding ways to manage it
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2019) EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Wednesday that migration to the bloc will never stop and EU states must focus on finding ways to manage it.Avramopoulos presented before the European Commission on Wednesday a four-year progress report on the European Agenda on Migration, highlighting steps taken by the European Union since the last report in March 2019.
"Here we have to be honest too, the phenomenon of migration will be with us for some time to come. The question will never be how to stop it, but how to better manage it," Avramopoulos said.
The migration commissioner added that migration remained a global challenge and although migration to the EU had slowed down in the past four years, the bloc needed to "be ready always" and prepare for the future, especially in light of the new conflict in north Syria, referring to Turkey launching an offensive there against Kurdish-led forces.
In his progress report, Avramopoulos also said that since 2014, great progress had been made toward building a stronger EU policy on migration, moving from "crisis mode" to creating structural solutions to ensure Europe was prepared for future migratory challenges.
However, despite those advances, the migration commissioner outlined key areas requiring immediate action from EU states, particularly improving conditions in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and alleviating Greece and Cyprus' increased migrant arrivals, establishing more solidarity in search and rescue operations and accelerating migrant evacuations from Libya, where conflict escalated in April.
