site.btaEU Migration: EU Commission President Von der Leyen Calls for Tripling Frontex Border Force

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the EU’s border agency Frontex should be tripled in size to 30,000 staff, speaking at an international forum in Brussels on Wednesday. She added that the EU is working to drive people smugglers into bankruptcy and expand legal migration routes to Europe.

Von der Leyen said the EU aims to bankrupt smugglers who organize and facilitate the illegal crossing of European borders and will not spare resources for this purpose. She noted that migrants who arrive in the EU illegally are often forced to join networks of modern slavery, and argued that more channels for legal immigration to Europe are needed.

The efforts are also directed at saving tens of thousands of victims of these schemes, von der Leyen said. She noted that the EU is preparing a sanctions regime against smugglers and measures to seize their illegally acquired assets, as well as awareness campaigns in migrants’ countries of origin to dissuade them from attempting the journey.

The leading principle in the EU is that Europeans decide who crosses the borders and under what conditions, not the smugglers, von der Leyen said. She reported that this year the number of migrants arriving illegally in the EU has fallen by 37%, while there has also been a 26% decrease along the most frequently used routes. She described the migration-related legislative changes adopted by the Council of the EU earlier this week as historic and an example of responsible policy.