From EUobserver · · 1m 20s
Broken promise of European migration solution
EU leaders repeat migration strategy despite 100,000 Syrian crossings dropping since Assad fell.
In brief
EU leaders repeat migration strategy despite 100,000 Syrian crossings dropping since Assad fell. EU leaders claim migration policy reforms reduced irregular arrivals, but Syrian crossings fell from 100,000 in 2023 to 1,000 after Assad's fall, showing policy promises have not delivered. Originally reported by…
EU summit leaders' 2015 migration strategy
Twelve years ago, EU summit leaders announced they had a strategy to tackle unprecedented migrant arrivals.
Repeated migration promises since 2015
Next week, they will meet again in Brussels to tell us something similar to their 2015 strategy.
EU migration policy conclusions since 2015
Dozens of EU summit conclusions have been published since 2015, when one million Syrians arrived in Europe to seek protection.
Migration policy promises and outcomes
We need stronger external borders to preserve the Schengen passport-free zone, they said. We need partnerships with foreign states to save lives. We need to step up deportations. We need a European solution.
Some migration strategies worked
Some have actually panned out, including an EU migrant swap deal with Turkey and other deals with autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.
Syrian crossings dropped after Assad fell
Syrians accounted for over 100,000 irregular crossings in 2023, a year before Assad fell. It then dropped to around 6,000. Today, it is around 1,000, according to Frontex.
The takeaway
EU leaders claim migration policy reforms reduced irregular arrivals, but Syrian crossings fell from 100,000 in 2023 to 1,000 after Assad's fall, showing policy promises have not delivered.
