Political Report Card Logo * What we do * Who we are * Newsletters * Book * Support us * fb * tw * ig Near Support us Menu backwards ## Migrants, Meloni is wrong: Italy is not the only EU country with more arrivals in 2020 by Editorial Staff | January 11, 2021 ![\\"Report card](\\"\\") Giorgia Meloni The declaration «The Frontex-Ministry of the Interior data is merciless: the Covid emergency has done it reduce illegal arrivals of immigrants to all of Europe, with only exception of Italy" Source: Facebook | January 10, 2021 facebook twitter whatsapp email ![\\"Handle\\"](\\"\\") Handle Brief verdict Pinocchio going The president of Fratelli d'Italia Giorgia Meloni wrote on January 10th on his Facebook profile, citing "merciless" Frontex-Ministry of the Interior data, that illegal arrivals of migrants to Europe have decreased with the Covid-19 emergency "with the sole exception of Italy". Things aren't right just like that. It is true that illegal arrivals in the EU are overall decreased and increased in Italy (tripled, as correctly reported the leader of Fdi in the continuation of her post), but our country is not the only one in this situation. Let's see the details. Frontex data According a statement published on 8 January by Frontex, the European Agency for border and coast guard, «the number of illegal crossings of external borders [i.e. both landings and entries by land editor's note] of the EU is decreased by 13 percent last year, to around 124 thousand, largely a due to the impact of the Covid-19 restrictions put in place by several States". Therefore it is true, as Meloni says, that the Covid-19 emergency - and in particular the measures taken by States to contain it – have done reduce illegal arrivals of migrants to Europe. The 2020 data is according to Frontex even the lowest since 2013. Let's now look at the situation of Italy. Italy Again according to the Frontex press release, «the number of irregular arrivals on the central Mediterranean route has almost tripled, a 35,600, making it the most active migratory route to Europe." The route central Mediterranean is the one leading from sub-Saharan Africa to Italy. So it is true that while the number of illegal entries into Europe generally declined during 2020 due to the pandemic (-13 percent), the number of illegal entries into Italy has almost tripled (+154 percent). On this fact, as we wrote recently, the Italian politics has insisted a lot (although less than in the past) and not rarely mixing correct information and falsehoods. But it really is Italy the only country to which the illegal entry of migrants has increased? There answer is no. There are at least two other exceptions. Hungary and Slovenia Yes you see in the image attached to the Frontex press release, there is another route that in 2020 it saw an increase, although less significant. It's about of the Western Balkan route, which has seen an increase in illegal entries by 78 percent, to around 27 thousand. Meloni talks about it but only in reference to Italy, which however is not the end point of the route in the European Union. The route in fact starts from Türkiye, crosses Greece (or sometimes the Bulgaria) and then the Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina) to arrive in Hungary or Slovenia (la Croatia is in the EU but not yet in the Schengen area). Arrivals in these two Countries have therefore increased during 2020. On this route they mix two distinct flows, that of migrants arriving from the Middle East and that of Balkan migrants. It's true that part of the flow of the route from the Western Balkans then arrives in Italy, but not all of it, and above all it is conversely true that, as the European Commission points out for example, the flow of the central Mediterranean route often does not have the its final point of arrival. Beyond this, there is at least one other EU country, as well as Hungary and Slovenia, which saw an increase in 2020 illegal entry of migrants into its territory. Spain In Spain, according to data from UNHCR (the UN agency that deals with refugees), in 41,861 migrants arrived in 2020 (over 40,300 by sea). In 2019 there were 32,513 arrived. So there was an increase of around 30 percent. This increase depends on the increase in the flow from Africa to the Canary Islands, islands that are located in the Atlantic but which are Spanish territory they allow migrants to apply for asylum in an EU country. According to Frontex here alone in 2020 there were more than 22,600 illegal entries, eight times more than the numbers of 2019. A number so high that it more than makes up for it the decline in the western Mediterranean route (-28 percent). The verdict Giorgia Meloni claimed on January 10 that in 2020 the illegal arrivals of migrants have decreased throughout Europe with the sole exception of Italy, but wrong. It is true that overall illegal arrivals in Europe have decreased in 2020 compared to 2019 (-13 percent), and which in Italy instead are increased (+154 percent), but ours is not the only country in this situation. As well as on the central Mediterranean route, which leads to Italy, the number of illegal crossings of external borders community has also increased on the Western Balkan route, which leads to Hungary and Slovenia. Furthermore, admissions have also increased in Spain illegal, in particular due to the increase in the migratory flow towards Canary Islands. Overall for Meloni a “Pinocchio going”. * Immigration * Migrants ## SUPPORT REPORT CARD Politics without small talk. 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The FrontexMinistry of the Interior data is merciless the Covid emergency has decreased the illegal arrivals of immigrants to all of Europe with the sole exception of Italy